The Enemy of My Enemy
by HeatWave
Summary: Set between the events of Mega Man 7 and Mega Man 8. A new enemy has emerged from the stars, but before the planet must be saved, an unlikely alliance must be formed. Chap 15 is up, overhauled the story.
1. World of Turmoil

**Author's Notes:  Just so everyone knows, a lot of the physics and ideas that I used in this story come from Mandi Paugh, of Mega Man Homepage fame.  If you haven't read her stories yet, I suggest you do, over at www.mmhp.net.  Anyway, most of you probably don't need to be told this, but I guess I have to put it up here to avoid lawsuit (I mean, why's it called a FAN-fiction, you'd think people would be able to figure this out)  I don't own most of these characters, most notably, I don't own Mega Man, Capcom does.  Some of these characters are indeed mine.  If you wanna use 'em, go ahead, but I prefer that you let me know beforehand.**

**I hope you enjoy the show.**

The Enemy of My Enemy

It was a quiet day, too quiet.  But then, those are the days that Dr. Albert W. Wily liked the best.  They were perfect for causing trouble, and that's what he did best.  He paused over the security consoles of his recently constructed fortress and surveyed the many halls.  Checking the security measures once again to make sure that all systems were working optimally, Wily set about to bring his next plan into action.  Walking into his new lab, he paused to sniff the stale, fresh, air.  He loved that smell, but also resented it in a way, as it reminded him that the new lab was usually the result of the destruction of his previous structures.  But this time, it wasn't the case.  This particular structure was the second in two operational fortresses currently in his possession, with two more that would be online in a matter of weeks.  Things were going his way, and nothing was going to stop him now.  "After all," he mused to himself, "That blue nuisance never shows his face as long as I stay hidden, which gives me all the time in the world."  He sat down at the command console and went to work.

                After ten minutes of fixing the bugs in the new systems, Wily sat back and relaxed for a bit.  He felt a little thirsty.  "Computer, get me a glass of water, and make it quick!"  A few seconds later the water was set in front of him.  He loved being immediately obeyed; it was what life was all about.  Just as he finished the glass, security systems suddenly went yellow.  "What the blazes...that menace couldn't have found this place that quickly!" Wily scanned the console.  "Computer, pinpoint source of security breach."  

                "Affirmative."  The computer quickly pinpointed the problem through one of the cameras hidden around the perimeter.  "Long range scanners have picked up a metallic object 5.3 kilometers from the complex, heading at 30 kph towards the structure.  It appears to be metallic in origin but fits no profile of any such robot or craft in the database."

                Interesting.  "Computer, have all cameras in the field of vision zoom in on the device, I want a readout of all basic elements and any components that may be easily derived."  The cameras zoomed in and Wily got a good look at the thing.  It was basically a large sphere, with a single jutting eye on the front that glowed green, and what appeared to be an antenna sticking out the top.  It was nothing he'd ever seen before.  "What is this?  Is my old friend Thomas playing with a new toy, a reconnaissance probe perhaps?  I might learn something from this."  Then the readout came up.  "What the..." It was indeed something that he'd never seen before, nor was the configuration any more familiar.  It had metal parts to it all right, which was what the computer picked up, but that was the least of it.  It appeared to be organic! Its energy patterns were very similar to nerve signals of the human brain, and it seemed to be carbon based as well.  A cyborg?  In that kind of form?  Wily keyed his comm.  "Shadow Man, report."

                Wily's comm unit suddenly displayed a deep blue portrait with a silver four-fingered star on its forehead and white shoulders, wrists, and calves.  "Shadow Man here, what's all the commotion?"

                "We have a visitor, take Magnet Man and Elec Man and bring it here, in one piece, if possible."

                "Can do, Dr. Wily.  We'll have it in a short time."

                Wily thought for a moment, "On second thought, take Flash Man and use his time stopper to help, I want it unharmed, and be careful, I'm not sure exactly what we're dealing with."

                "Gotcha.   Shadow Man out."  The comm went black, and Wily began to prepare to examine his new guest.

* * *

He'd seen all the technology in the known world, and had even gotten the chance to examine the most advanced robot on the planet, Mega Man himself, but what Wily had in front of him, however, was a wonder all on its own.  His robots had little trouble bringing it in, though the "probe" had sprouted a small laser gun and zapped Magnet Man a few times, but Flash Man had stopped it cold.  They brought it in and Wily had set about finding a way to safely disable it.  

Now Wily had it caged, its laser gun dismantled and set under a different scanner.  The gun seemed to be a small armament, and appeared to do no more damage than a small plasma shot, but regardless, it was incredibly well focused, and its trigger mechanism was smaller than thought possible.  The probe itself was no bigger than two feet across.  Wily's scanners were helpless; nothing could recognize what it was.  It was indeed a living creature of some sort, but Wily guessed it had no free will of its own.  It was a complete robot in a way, but its body was a living being.  It could repair itself much like Mega Man, Wily contemplated it being a bioroid, as Mega Man was, but this was indeed no robot, it was an actual living creature.  And it would come in handy.  He set his systems to do a complete full inner and outer bionic scan.  The screen brought up anything it could make sense of, but there were still many elements that could not be defined.  Wily took a closer look.  No, they were not elements, they were minerals, he realized.  No wonder the computer couldn't define them!  Those metals were thought to be incompatible with each other, the computer couldn't recognize them until it had done a more specific scan.  What was more amazing was that these basic metals, when combined, formed an organic compound that made up the skin of the device.  It was extremely durable and could self seal, but it was not invulnerable.  Conventional weapons did normal damage, and bladed weapons did a bit better.  Aside from its resistance to plasma, the most interesting thing about it was its healing capabilities.  

"This couldn't be Dr. Light's." Wily said to no one in particular.  Though it was fairly safe to assume that the famous Dr. Light had superior technology to even Dr. Wily, he rarely used it for these purposes.  Besides, Light would never use organic molecules in his inventions.  His regard for life was too high.  Wily set about to download all he knew into his databases and made copies, which he promptly shipped to his other operational fortress.  Immediately after the upload was complete, klaxons began blaring.  

                "What!?" Wily turned to his command monitor, "What's going on!?  Computer, give me a reading!"  Security screens were showing only static.  

                "Camera systems being jammed, rerouting to manual signal.  Fortress hull has been breached on northwest wall.  Standby."  

Wily waited with waning patience.  Then the cameras came online.  Wily scanned the monitors.  "This had better not be that annoying Mega Man."  It wasn't.  Instead a horde of what appeared to be giant spiders were crawling through the halls, and they were packing weaponry.  Wily's eyes went wide.  "Alert, the fortress is being invaded, all robot masters report to co-ordinates 23-5A, and prepare to fight!"  A flashing red light caught Wily's attention.  Security systems were not responding!  Wily swore under his breath as he set about his consoles and went to work.  After a few seconds his comm beeped and Shadow Man's profile appeared.

"Hey, these things are putting up a fight, where's the backup!"  

"I'm working on it!  Anyway, it's not your concern, just get back to the fight you rusted scrap heap!"  As Shadow Man's profile disappeared, Wily went back to work, he hated it when his robots frustrated him, it was the downside to upgrading their artificial intelligence, but their fighting technique was greatly enhanced, and Wily was learning to put up with it.  

* * *

Meanwhile, Shadow Man and the robot masters who had responded first were having a difficult time.  These spider things did not want to give in, and they were awfully persistent.  He jumped as a shot came at his heels and let the apparent leader have another shadow blade.  Magnet Man was beside him, trying his best to hit the targets.  

"These things aren't attracted to magnets!  How am I supposed to hit them!?"

"Try aiming."  Shadow Man responded.

"You know very well my aim stinks, I'm not used to hitting things directly."

"Then put up your magnet shield and cover me." 

"What good would that do?  It won't affect them."

"Yeah, but maybe you can block their shots and provide some cover."  Magnet Man seemed to think it over, then decided to try it.  His shield went up, but almost pulled Shadow Man right into him.  "Hey!  Lessen the intensity!  You're getting the wrong side!"  The magnetic pull dropped and Shadow Man was able to use him as adequate cover.  The shield seemed to block the creatures shots with successful efficiency, but he couldn't keep it up forever.  Shadow Man intended to use the cover to its utmost advantage.  Across the hall, Top Man took one hit too many and was gone in a flash of exploding energy.  Shadow Man hoped the enemy couldn't use the weapons of defeated masters like that annoying blue bomber, or he wouldn't be functioning very much longer.  Next to them, Knight Man and Wood Man followed example and used their own shields to provide cover while the Gemni Men plastered the enemy with plasma shots.  

The spiders they fought were seven-foot-tall war machines.  They didn't seem incredibly unstoppable, but there were a lot of them, and they kept coming.  "Wily had better get those security systems online or he's not going to have many robot masters left."  Magnet Man commented.  His shield had run out and he and Shadow Man had taken cover behind Wood Man while he recharged.  "Flash Man would have come in handy as well."  

Flash Man had been the first to reach the scene, but was almost immediately vaporized as five beams of intense light converged on him.  Right now those specific cannons were silent, but that was hardly a good sign.  Behind him, Shadow Man felt the ground vibrate, and wondered if the things had somehow gotten around behind them.  It wasn't the spiders; it was something more awesome.  The huge robot known as Hard Man rounded the corner, with Crash Man at his heels.

"Hey, sorry I took so long, what'd I miss?" Hard Man said.

"Not much, though you did miss the vaporization of Top Man and Flash Man."  Knight Man replied.

"Huh, well, sucks to be them.  What are we up against?"  

"Beats me, I've never seen anything like this, even in Wily's labs, and that's saying a lot." Magnet Man said.  Hard Man surveyed the battle.  "Hey, you gonna fight or just sit there?"  

"Oh, right, watch out everyone, I'm gonna jump."  The robots prepped themselves as Hard Man took a leap and landed with a resounding boom.  The enemy robots, whatever they were, were not prepared for the rumble and momentarily lost their balance.  Wily's robots wasted no time, and quickly poured on every shot they could get out.  One spider was blinded as a crash bomb attached itself over the visual sensor array.  A hard knuckle followed suit and set off the bomb as it collided with the spider.  The enemy exploded under the combined assault, taking a rather damaged ally with it.  Meanwhile, Shadow Man discovered that he could shear off individual legs with a single shadow blade.  Soon, legs began to fly left and right as the incapacitated bugs were quickly finished off.  

Though the masters fought hard, the onslaught continued.  Gemni Man was now down to his original self, and though his energy was getting low, he found that his laser did rather well against the things.  Knight Man's shield had taken too much damage to be any use and he abandoned it in favor of the jumping and dodging routine.  Wood Man was now their sole source of cover, as well as the occasional Magnet Man, but the masters found themselves being pushed further and further down the hallway, and faster than they would like to admit.  Hard Man tried another leap, but this time the spiders braced themselves as well, and were undeterred by the attack.  Frustrated, Hard Man fired a knuckle into the lead spider, knocking him into two others.  The knuckle continued down the hall and out the hole in the wall where it hit something and exploded.

"Got one!  But we can't keep this up much longer!" he said.

Just then, the masters heard the powering up of equipment, and lights suddenly lit the hallway.  The spiders began exploding one by one as defensive turrets and minor robots filled the hallway and poured blazing plasma and exploding projectiles into the invaders.  The security system was on-line.  The robots took a breather, not that they really needed it, but they didn't know what else to do.  Then Shadow Man's comm beeped.

"Shadow Man here, thanks for the assist doctor."

"Those blasted things had my systems jammed, you must've destroyed the one that was emitting the signal.  Anyway, I want you to bring me the least damaged of those things you can find, and I want it as intact as possible."  There was a pause, "Oh, and find that jammer if you can, I think it was outside."  

_So, _that's_ what Hard Man had hit_, he thought to himself.  "Gotcha doc, Shadow Man out.  Hard Man!" he yelled across the hall, "Wily wants one of these things in the lab.  Crash Man, keep watch, the rest of you get your energy refilled, we might need it soon."  As the robots complied, Shadow Man walked through the hole and searched for the device that might resemble a signal jammer.     

* * * 

The situation just kept getting more and more interesting.  Wily was busy with his next guest when Shadow Man walked in with what used to be a large box with legs and a double barreled cannon on the top.  It was now in pieces, thanks to Hard Man.  "Excellent," Wily said, "Put it on table three, and get back on patrol, who knows if more of these things are going to show up.

Shadow Man dropped the fragments onto the table and made a hasty exit.  Wily was still bent over the attacker bot.  It too, like the probe, was manly composed of organic matter, with metallic parts grafted to it.  He had managed to get the electronic computer components plugged into his own system, and was busy trying his best to see if the creature could be manipulated or reprogrammed.  After all, that's what Wily was famous for.  After a thorough examination and multiple attempts, he realized that the central programming was not in the electronic or mechanical portions, and after further examination, he discovered that the creature had its own brain, which was somehow being controlled by an external controller.  "It's a virtual living robot!"  He exclaimed, "But unlike Mega Man, it does not have its own free will!  Someone or something has the ability to convert living organisms into mindless drones!  This technology, I must know all the secrets to its use, then I could literally take over this planet!"  Wily went back to work with a new fervor.  His enthusiasm kept him up through a good part of the night.  It also kept him out of bed, and soon, Wily was asleep at the console.


	2. Overwhelming Odds

Chapter 2 

Wily awoke with a start, and realized where he'd fallen asleep.  He checked the time, and discovered that it was 6:23 a.m.  He groggily got up to go to bed for another hour when he got a funny feeling that something was wrong.  Then he snapped awake.  Klaxons all throughout the fortress were blaring and the computer was in a red alert status.  Wily jumped back to his chair, fully awake now.  "Computer, report!" he shouted.  He brought up the security cameras and noticed that most of the outer perimeter cameras were out of commission.  

"Fortress is under attack by unknown creatures.  They have similar compositions of creatures which attacked the fortress yesterday, but do not physically resemble them," the computer responded.  Wily scanned internal sensors until he found the things.  They were humanoid this time, or bipedal at least.  The similarities pretty much stopped there.  They had arms and what appeared to be hands, but they also had another set of arms, which extended over the shoulders.  These arms, however, ended in what appeared to be a dangerous looking weapon of some sort.  They stood at about five feet high, but looked rather bulky, and their chest cavity was also decked out in various weapons systems.  There were about four in current view, and probably more behind them.  Wily watched as they were engaged by a trio of sniper joes.  The joes poured on fire, and hid behind their shield when return fire was encountered.  One of the joes was caught with a duel blast from the shoulder cannons of one of the things while his shield was up.  The joe went down hard, and in pieces.  The other two tried to hold out, but were dispatched in a similar manner.  Wily hit the comm.

"All robot masters, get to the southernmost portion of the fortress ASAP!  Don't get yourselves killed down there either!  I'm forwarding all known data into your systems for infield usage.  Move it!"  Wily continued to watch as a hidden wall cannon revealed itself only to be completely vaporized before it could fire.  Whatever these things were, they were obviously much more advanced units than whatever had been encountered last night.  The robots came upon a gate, and approached it.  The gate went up as they approached and immediately snapped shut when the first two had gone through.  Those two were about to face Tomahawk Man.  The other robots seemed undeterred and took a different route through the halls.  The two that had entered found themselves faced by an impressive looking blue robot with red feathers sticking out of his head.  

"Welcome," Tomahawk Man said, "Prepare to be annihilated."  His only response was a laser beam emitted from, the lead cyborg's hand, which was easily dodged.  Tomahawk Man replied with his own silver tomahawk, which caught the lead robot in the chest and knocked him back.  The other cyborg opened up as well as they both tried to hit the robot master, who in turn threw silver tomahawks and energy feathers at the intruders.  

Wily quickly realized that the new encounters could take as much damage as any robot master, and the battle became increasingly prolonged.  The master was managing to hold his own, but the cyborgs were learning to buddy their shots so that one would shoot at him while the other would hit him as he tried to dodge.  Tomahawk Man tried his best, but they were gaining the upper hand.  

A sudden explosion rattled the walls and a crash bomb, sent from the newly opened wall, latched itself onto the lead cyborg.  The explosion took it out and threw the other onto the floor, where another bomb was already on its way to meet it.  This one was not as damaged as the last, but the bomb blew off one of its arm joints, and left it with a few less weapon systems.  The combined team of Tomahawk Man and Crash Man was able to quickly finish it off.  Then they ran off to find others to defeat, after Tomahawk Man recharged his energy.  

Wily's face wore a smug expression.  That was two less intruders to worry about.  Of course, he couldn't celebrate just yet, more of these things were entering the fortress by the minute.  After so long fighting only one robot, namely Mega Man, Wily was not used to taking on an entire army, and his security systems were apparently inadequate.  It was up to his prize creations, the robot masters, to guard the fortress now.  However, they were also having a rough time.  Hard Man and Stone Man had already been eliminated, in fact, Wily was losing robot masters left and right.  There were only 10 left of the 18 that he had brought to the new fortress.  Wily considered calling his masters from his other fortress, but as he turned to his long range communication signals, a sudden fear gripped him.  The communicator was no longer responding.  Wily cursed under his breath, this was not good.  Without the reinforcements, this fortress was going to fall, unless he could do something to stop it.  He hurried towards his storage chamber, it was time to try out his new war machine, these things would regret having messed with Dr. Albert Wily. 


	3. Aren't You in the Wrong Fortress?

Chapter 3

The morning was fresh, well, the mid-morning, anyway.  Mega Man was back in the city.  He just never got enough of watching the human activity.  He strode through the streets, looking this way and that, sitting, walking, listening, watching… the scene was organized chaos at its best.  He walked along the streets and browsed various stores, looking at their wares, and the people trying to sell them.  Usually he'd simply do this casually, as if it were a form of entertainment, but today he was searching for something.  Dr. Light had sent him out for a few things.  Usually he sent Roll for these small errands, but Mega Man had volunteered.  He was always looking for a reason to get out of the house during the times that Wily was silent.  However, this time his thoughts were interrupted as a strange sight met his eyes.  A very thin, very pale young girl was walking down the street across the road from Mega Man.  He never would have given her a second thought if he hadn't unconsciously focused on her for a while.  When he finally realized what he was looking at, he suddenly became suspicious.  She was constantly shifting her eyes around, and the look on her face was almost one of pure terror, as if she was drastically out of place.  Mega Man recognized this look as one of two things.  She was either about to commit a felony, and was extremely nervous, or she was scared out of her wits because of an unknown danger.  Mega Man decided to follow the girl.  

When not fighting Dr. Wily, Mega Man usually kept an eye on as much as he possibly could, sometimes helping local law enforcement to catch criminals or subdue wayward robots.  Still, he had enough experience to recognize the girl's facial expression.  She walked through the plaza, and never even seemed to notice the short, black-haired boy following her from a discreet distance.

* * *

                Back in the lab, Dr. Thomas Xavier Light was busy working on yet another of his many inventions.  He never seemed to stop working, he always had settings that needed adjusting or some gadget that needed a few bugs worked out.  Lately he'd been working on his computer a bit, more specifically the security radar.  A few days ago it began to pick up strange signals in the sky at random times throughout the day.  Dr. Light figured it was simply the radar getting old, and had shut it down temporarily until he could get it fixed, but at the moment he had more interesting projects underway.  His housekeeper robot, Roll, was beside him, keeping track of tools that the doctor needed in his work.  

She was a short robot, about the height of Mega Man, which was just over four feet.  However, unlike Mega Man, she was blonde, though she had the typical blue eyes characteristic of Dr. Light's robots.  Dr. Light usually had her out of the house, running errands for him, but lately he'd been having problems sending her out of the house.  Even though she was completely robot, and was not a Bioroid like Mega Man, Roll was given enough artificial intelligence to fool most people, and that was apparent.  Whenever Roll would leave the house, various teenage males continued to hit on her.  Dr. Light was amused how they reacted to her, even though she was completely indifferent to them.  The problem was that some of them had begun to follow her home, and Dr. Light had to send Mega Man to act as an "overprotective brother" to deter them from seeing where she lived.  

So now that Mega Man was no longer fighting Wily, he could go into town and pick up what Dr. Light needed.  He was always willing to go anyway, so Dr. Light kept Roll at home to help him with his work and keep the lab in working order.  She was a rather efficient cleaner and housemaid, but that was because it was what Dr. Light had programmed her to do.  He was much to busy to bother trying to keep his lab clean.  Besides that, she also helped him to remember formulas and important dates and appointments that he might had, after all, he was only human, while she had a computer for a brain.  At the moment, she was also proving to be a big help. Dr. Light was currently working on a surprise for Mega Man.  A small present for recently defeating Wily's somewhat ridiculous attempt to take over the world through soccer matches.  That Dr. Wily was always full of surprises.  Unfortunately, they were never surprises that were enjoyable.  

As Dr. Light continued to work, he became engrossed in his project and completely missed the multiple figures approaching his laboratory, and because his radar was off, he never knew they were there, until suddenly...

The doorbell rang.  

_That's funny_, thought Dr. Light, _No one ever bothers to visit the "famous" Dr. Light without an appointment.  The only person who knows me that well is Dr. Cossack, and he _always _notifies me before he_ _visits.  I wish more people would, though, it gets awfully lonely in this big lab, even with Mega Man and Roll around_.  _Seriously, I think more people are afraid of me than they are of Wily.  He makes more public appearances after all, maybe they've become more familiar with him._  Dr. Light ended his muses.  "Roll, go get the door will you please?"

As his housekeeping robot went to the door, Dr. Light went back to work and thought nothing of it.  Roll would take care of it, or she would notify him if he needed to be there.  Yet once again his work was interrupted.  Roll's high-pitched scream floated through the structure, and without thinking, Dr. Light ran to the aid of his distressed housekeeper.

* * *

                Mega Man was about to leave the poor girl alone.  He'd followed her through most of that side of the city, but she did not appear to be in any apparent danger, it would've happened by now.  He was about to brake it off when she made and abrupt entrance into a crowd of people, and he lost her anyway.  His mind took over from there.  

                _She probably noticed me following her, and maybe she's just been looking for a way to lose me this whole time.  _He thought twice, _Who__ am I kidding?  She couldn't have noticed me, I may not be as good as Proto Man, but I know enough about discreet following to keep from being noticed.  Well, I'd better not take the chance, I've got nothing else to do at the moment.  He turned back around to follow her again, momentarily forgetting the task that he had been sent out to go.  It suddenly hit him that the girl __had lost him.  Thinking quickly, he activated his personal com-link, hidden in his helmet._

                "C'mon bro, I know you're around here somewhere, you always follow me into town."  Mega Man scanned the area to see if he could possibly locate his brother's whereabouts.

                "You're learning, Mega Man."

                "I've got an older brother to set me a good example." Mega Man quipped.

                "Yeah, funny.  Don't bother looking, you'll never find me, oh, and she entered the plaza to your left.  Don't think I don't know you well enough."

                "Never have, you've known me almost all of your life.  Of course, by human standards, we're only about five years old."

                "You may be eight, but I'm nine.  Don't forget, I was constructed a year before you were."

                "Yeah, yeah...I know.  Anyway, thanks for the help."

                "No problem, little brother.  I'll see you around."

                The communicator clicked off and Mega Man went into the building his brother had indicated.  {_There's no way I'm gonna find her in here,}_ he thought.  But still, he kept looking, until another communiqué broke into his thoughts.

                "Mega Man... Can you hear me?"

                "Loud and clear Dr. Light, what's up?"

                "I need you to return to the lab ASAP, you might want to hear this."

                "Something up, Dr. Light?"

                "Just get back here, you need to hear it from them.  Oh, and if you can, bring that brother of yours, he's always following you into town, so you might be able to reach him better than I can."

                "Can do, Dr. Light, just give me enough time to find a place where I can teleport without arousing suspicion."

                "All right, just hurry, because frankly, I don't feel very safe with them by myself. Dr. Light out."

                _I wonder what this is all about, and who is he talking about anyway? _Mega Man thought.  "Proto Man, you catch that?" 

                "Yeah, I heard, I'm already there, hurry up, Dr. Light usually doesn't act like that, and I'm not to sure I like it.  Take care bro."

                "You too.  See ya there." Mega Man wandered into the men's room of the shop he was in.  Thankfully it was empty.  He walked into the nearest stall and flipped open the hidden panel on his wrist.  He pressed one button and his fighting uniform was instantly recalled to him.  As he pressed the middle button, he disappeared in a streak of blue light.  The girl would have to wait.

* * *

                He was running through the halls towards the lab.  His teleporter was never very reliable, and accuracy was always a problem.  If it was accurate enough, he would be able to teleport right into the robot master's room instead of having to fight his way to them.  Luckily it wasn't _too far off this time, and had managed to place him inside Dr. Light's fortress' living quarters.  As he turned the corner at a dead run he saw a blur of red appear in front of him.  *WHAM*  Mega Man was knocked to the ground, and felt a little dizzy.  _What the heck was that!_ he thought.  Then his vision cleared, and he saw another robot standing in front of him.  It was mostly gray, though it's hands, wrists, calves, feet, and helmet were red, along with a red streak across it's waist.  It's helmet had a white outline around the faceplate, which went up in a sharp spike at the middle, and it's eyes were obscured in a pitch black visor.  Strapped to his back was a red and white shield, with it's own visor imbedded into it.  The only other color was the yellow bandana around it's neck, unless you include the slight green at the side of it's helmet._

                "Oh, hey bro."

                The mysterious robot known as Proto Man helped his brother to his feet.  "Mega Man, Don't you ever watch where you're going?  C'mon, we've been waiting for you, and try not to blow the place up in shock.."  He led Mega Man into the lab.  As Mega Man entered his eyebrows shot up.

                "Shadow Man!" he exclaimed to the blue-white robot standing in front of him.  Without even thinking, Mega Man charged up and fired a half-powered shot in Shadow Man's general direction.  It was easily dodged.  Mega Man felt a pair of arms grab him, and immediately started struggling.

"Whoa there, easy pal."  It was Proto Man

                "What's going _on!?_ Why are they here!?"  Mega Man indicated the various robot masters in the lab, he counted about six of them.  They were Magnet Man, Tomahawk Man, Crash Man, Metal Man, Crystal Man, and Of course, Shadow Man.  

                "Just calm down, bro, and let's hear their story."  Mega Man looked around and spotted Dr. Light, who was busy hunched over something on the table.  He walked closer and saw a very battered-looking Dr. Wily lying on the table.  He turned to the robot masters.

                "Ok...let's hear it."

                Shadow Man went into all the details that he knew, and each of the robot masters gave him their own version of what they knew.  The whole time, Dr. Light sat and shook his head.  After hearing the story, Mega Man couldn't help but ask... "Yeah, but why come here?  We're your enemy, remember?"

                "We didn't know what else to do.  Those of us who were left in the fortress rushed to his aid, but by the time we got there, his craft had just about had it, not to mention it was surrounded by these things, whatever they were.  Plant Man and Wood Man went in and got their attention, while the rest of us rushed to Wily and teleported him out.  The other two never made it.  We came here because Dr. Wily needed medical aid, and we knew conventional hospitals would never have left Wily alone had we taken him there.  Besides, we thought that Dr. Light might want to hear this.  So we came here."

                Mega Man was becoming infuriated.  "What makes you think that we'd want to help you!  And where's Bass!  Isn't he supposed to be Wily's bodyguard!?"

                "You know Bass, he's always out looking for you, besides, Mega Man, we were programmed to hate you, not Dr. Light."

                Mega Man thought that over... he had to admit that it made a little sense.  His attention then turned to Dr. Light.  "Doctor, what do you think of this?"  However, his question was unheeded.  Mega Man saw that Dr. Wily was awake, and that Dr. Light was talking to him.  

                "Wily, what was going through your mind?  What did you do?"

                "All I've done was recreate my robot masters, you've seen me do it before!  What am I doing here!  Release me now!"'

                Dr. Light began to raise his voice.  "Are you crazy Albert!  Do you realize what you've done!  You're robot masters were able to make a decision!  They were able to make their own decision without you to tell them what to do!  They brought you here because _THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO!!!"_

                "What's you're point, Thomas?"

                "My _point_, Wily, is that you've given your robots actual thought, Wily, they can learn, think, and decide, but what are they lacking?  They are lacking emotions, that which keeps us humans from making certain, unethical, decisions!  Those robots could explode in your face if they wanted to!"

                "For pete's sake, calm down Thomas.  Yes, I have given my robots the ability to think for themselves, but they are still bound by their creator.  They must still do what I tell them to, I only gave them enough intelligence to increase their fighting efficiency, and to be able to make certain decisions when I am not there to guide them."

                "You're treading dangerous ground, Wily, and you'll regret it someday."

                "Enough!  What am I doing here, and what happened?!"

                "You're robot masters brought you here for treatment, whatever it was that attacked you today they were nothing short of brutal.  

                "They weren't entirely invincible, there were just too many of them to handle."

                "You're robots think that we should work together to solve this puzzle, but first I would like to know what I'm dealing with."  

                "I have some info on the first probe that was caught by my masters in my fortress."

                "You're fortress is probably leveled by now, Albert!"

                Wily didn't know how to explain it, he didn't want to tell Dr. Light of his other fortress, not to mention the two being built.  He was saved when a console started beeping.  Light turned to the console.  

                "There appears to be trouble in the city.  Something is attacking the Plaza Mall in the west section of town, and it's causing quite a ruckus.  Maybe it's one of your friends, Wily."

                "I was just there," Mega Man said, "I'll check it out."  Mega Man left the room before anyone else could speak. 

                "Proto Man, go with him, he might need you."

                "Dr. Light, you're crazy if you think that I'm going to leave you surrounded by robot masters, even if you _do have Dr. Wily by the tail.  Mega Man's got more experience at this sort of thing anyway.  He'll be fine."_

                Dr. Light sighed.  He knew there was no arguing with Proto Man.  Dr. Wily looked back and forth between Proto Man and Dr. Light, and grumbled.

                "Oh, all right, Shadow Man, go with him, you've fought these things before, he might need the help."

                "You got it doctor." Shadow Man quickly teleported out.

                Wily turned back to Dr. Light.  "Told you they will do anything I tell them to, even if it meant helping the very thing that they were programmed to hate," Dr. Wily said.

"Oh, so now you can program emotions can you?" Dr. Light replied.

"Well, as close as I could get to it anyway.  Look Thomas, whatever these things were, they took out one of my fortresses, and with much more efficiency than your annoying creation ever did.  I don't like these things, and they need to be stopped, I know what they can do, and we might just be able to stop this."

Dr. Light looked skeptically at Wily, "Alright, Albert, but in order to help you, I'm gonna need your data, and your promise that you won't try anything sneaky.  Even though I doubt that you would keep it."

                "You should know me better than that, Thomas."

                "I do, that's why I'm going to be taking every precaution to make sure you stay in check."


	4. Welcome to Earth, Now Go Away

Chapter 4

                Mega Man arrived just in time to see the mall quickly being emptied of all its customers.  In fact, the mob had almost buried him under their feet, but he was able to get out of the way.  Almost immediately, cried arose from the crowd.

                "Look!  It's Mega Man!"

                "We're saved!"

                Cheers erupted from the crowd, but most of the people were too busy running to notice him.  Mega Man proceeded to enter the mall.  The crowds were still too thick to move very fast, but he was able to guess at the origin of the problem using the direction that the crowds were running.  When he finally broke through the crowd, he saw the source of the problem and came to an abrupt halt.  

A large, eight-foot humanoid figure was what greeted his eye.  It was dirty green in color with some parts that shimmered as if it was covered in scales, most likely some type of metal.  It was humanoid in nature with a large boxy chest and what appeared to be a pair of wings on its back.  He didn't see any visible weaponry, but that didn't mean it didn't have any.  

The, "thing", for lack of anything better to describe it, was bent over something, which appeared to be a human girl.  It didn't even seem to notice that Mega Man had appeared. Mega Man took careful aim, so as not to hit the girl, and let a charged shot off in the thing's direction.  The comet-shaped ball of superheated plasma streaked in at its target and struck the offender in the leg.  The thing turned around and noticed Mega Man for the first time.  

"I'm not here to fight, allow me to collect what I have come for, and I will leave without further incident."

Mega Man was taken aback.  It could talk?  He didn't let the prospect puzzle him for long.  "And what is it that you've come for?"  

"I am here for this unit," it replied, motioning towards the girl.

"Well, I'm afraid that I can't let you take her, she belongs to the planet Earth, and she'll have to stay here."

"Don't make things difficult for me, I have a task to perform, and you will not interfere.  "She" is coming with me."  It started to pick up the girl.

"Like heck she is!" Mega Man said, as he let another charged Mega Buster shot smack into the thing's chest cavity.  

"Enough, you will be terminated now."  It thrust its hand forward and Mega Man briefly caught sight of a hole in the palm before it unleashed a bright beam of energy into the small robot.  Mega Man didn't even think to dodge before he was hit full in the chest and thrown back into the wall behind him.  The beam cut off and Mega Man slumped to the ground, he'd taken damage, but he was not down for the count.

The thing, however, did not seem to notice this, and again turned towards the girl when it was hit again.  Once more it turned towards it's annoyance and began to attack, but this time, Mega Man was more prepared, and he launched himself out of the path of the beam weapon before it could hit him.  Mega Man let off a round of rapid shots and dodged again.

_That thing took three full charged shots, apparently he's no grunt!  I could use Proto Man's shield about now._  The thing had begun to sprout more cannons from various parts of its body.  A small laser cannon had sprouted from its other hand at the wrist, and two large, ominous looking cannons had formed at either of its shoulders.  It began to advance on Mega Man, letting a hail of lasers and beams in his general direction.  Mega Man was successful in dodging most of the return fire, but there were too many things to dodge, and he was hit every so often.  His attacker, however, did not try to dodge any return fire, and apparently didn't need to, as Mega Man found out, it could take a lot of punishment, and it had continued to advance.  Mega Man was running out of cover spots, as he constantly had to retreat in order to keep whatever it was from reaching him.  He dumped over a steel table, hoping it was strong enough to block its attacks.  The table seemed successful enough, but it was still coming towards him.  Mega Man poured all he could into it, but it kept coming, and gave no sign that it was even weakening.  Mega Man, however, was running out of energy.  

As he peeked over the top of his cover, he let off another super shot, and then noticed the two shoulder cannons had begun to glow.  Not exactly wanting to find out what type of weapons they were, Mega Man ducked his head back behind the table.  The table vanished two seconds later.  Mega Man was fully exposed, and he wasn't exactly prepared to be shot at.  He was hit a few times before it even dawned on him that he should move, he was hit more as he tried to find another source of cover.  Finally, another pulse from the beam weapon in the thing's palm hit him full in the back.  Already low on energy, Mega Man collapsed.  

"You are a worthy opponent," it said.  "My creators would be interested in your schematics.  Sensors show you differentiate from previously encountered designs.  However, I was not sent to collect samples, you will no longer bother me," it raised it's hands.  

Mega Man braced himself for the final assault that would silence him forever.  This "thing" had single-handedly done what none of Wily's robot masters could seem to do.  Mega Man waited.

  A piercing scream was sent throughout the complex.  It took Mega Man a while to realize that it hadn't come from him.  Mega Man's eyes flew open and he took in the scene as quickly as he could.  The thing's attention was no longer on him, it was diverted back towards the area that it had left the girl, and it wasn't moving.  Mega Man noticed that the girl had regained consciousness, and that she wasn't alone.  

Shadow Man had the girl's arms trapped behind her back, and was pressing a shadow blade against her neck.  Apparently she had emitted the scream.

"If she's so important to you, then back off, and you might just be able to finish your little quest," Shadow Man said.

"My masters had hoped to question her, but it is not necessary that she be functional when brought back to them," it replied.  "They wish to question you as well, for the destruction of many of their creations.  It is fortunate that you have arrived.  I will take you both back to them."

Mega Man was temporarily ignored, and had his assailant's back towards him.  He had one good shot.  He only hoped that Shadow Man could keep whatever it was stalled long enough for him to do it.  He then tried something that he had never previously tried to do.  He began to charge _both_ arm cannons.  It felt strange, and as the energy built up, it was almost painful. 

Meanwhile, Shadow Man managed to keep the thing's attention averted enough that it didn't seem to notice the constant, rising tone that began to emit from behind it.

"As slow as you are, you wouldn't be able to capture Wood Man."

"Then prepare yourse….."

It was never able to finish its sentence.  Another scream split the air, and this time it _was_ from Mega Man.  The immense power of two charged shots exiting Mega Man simultaneously was almost too much for his systems.  His arms seared as the power buildup left his body, and he himself was thrown back a few feet.  Despite his pain, Mega Man was happy of the results of the excruciating action.  The strange cyborg was lying facedown, its self temporarily stunned.  Its back, where Mega Man's dual shots had converged, was sparking on one side, and it appeared to be bleeding even.  It seemed that Mega Man might have found a weak spot.  

Mega Man stood up and aimed his arm cannon at the same spot.  Shadow Man readied a blade as he approached the monstrosity lying on the ground.  

"Seems you've failed your mission, " Mega Man said.  He turned to Shadow Man, "Never thought I'd be thanking a robot master for saving my life."

"Yeah, don't mention it or the other's are never gonna let me hear the end of this one."

Mega Man suppressed a grin.  This new artificial intelligence Wily had given to his robots might give him some new ways to have fun with robot masters.  He turned his attention back to the thing on the ground, there was still business to attend to.

"Now, tell us why you are here, and what you want with the girl," Shadow Man started the questioning.

"It will mean nothing to you if you knew.  You will not be functional much longer.  I will be back."

Before Mega Man could ask what he meant by that remark, it disappeared.  "Blast," Mega Man said, "How did he do that?"  

"Never mind that, where's the girl, she might know something we don't."

They looked around, but they didn't have to look far, she hadn't moved.  Mega Man approached the girl, and for once he got a good look at her face.  His eyebrows shot up and he took a startled step backwards.  It was the same girl he had been following through the city!

"What now?" Shadow Man looked at Mega Man, a puzzled look on his face.

"Nothing," he replied.  Shadow Man didn't need to know about Mega Man's constant strolls though town, Bass already caused enough trouble.  Instead he turned to the girl.  "Any idea as to why that thing wanted you?"

"When we reach a more secure area, then will I answer your questions.  We must not tarry long, they will come back for me soon enough," she said.

_There's something different about this girl,_ Mega Man thought to himself.  "Alright, here, take my hand, we'll discuss more in Dr. Light's Lab."  Mega Man reached towards the girl, but was interrupted as a blue plasma beam narrowly missed his head.  Mega Man whirled around.  

A gray robot stood in front of him, with black armor and yellow trim.  A bright cyan jewel-like figure was located on both his forehead and chest, and his helmet extended with a pair of yellow "wings" that started at the forehead and extended down the back of his helmet.

"Bass! I was wondering when you'd show up to cause trouble."

"Shut up Mega Man, I didn't have to miss!  Shadow Man, I want an answer!  Why are you cooperating with Mega Man of all things!?" Bass demanded.

"Come off it, Bass.  You've had your share of fighting alongside Mega Man.  Maybe if you'd stayed closer to the fortress rather than always running off, you might know what's going on, you'd better come back with us."

"Back where?  Last I heard you were headed to Dr. Light's lab!"

"And so we are.  Wily's fortress was totaled, and this time it wasn't Mega Man's doing.  Wily's waiting at Dr. Light's lab, come with us, and I'll let him tell you why."

Bass turned to Mega Man.  "What is this, some sort of trick?"

                "It's no trick, Bass, and we could probably use all the help we can get right now, and I don't have time to waste sitting here arguing with you."  Mega Man turned to the girl, "Take my hand, and then we'll go."

                The girl grabbed a hold of Mega Man and they disappeared in a blue flash.  Bass turned back to Shadow Man.  "What is going on here?  And what the heck was that thing that you two were fighting?"

                "I don't have time to discuss this with you either, go to Light's lab and Wily will give you the details.  If you don't want to, fine, but I don't suggest sticking around here for much longer."  Shadow Man disappeared in his own blue flash, leaving Bass to ponder these current events.


	5. At Least it's not Wily Again

Chapter 5

                The girl seemed a bit shaken, but it had probably been her first experience with teleportation, so it was understandable.  They had landed right outside the Lab.  Apparently Dr. Light had the barriers up, which kept anything from just appearing inside the lab.  

                _Makes sense, _Mega Man thought, _I doubt Dr. Light want's any unwelcome guests right now. _ Mega Man turned to the girl.  "Are you ok?"

                "That was a rather strange experience, but I am functional.  Is this our desired destination?"

                _This girl has a strange way of speaking to people, then again, it's probably not her first language.  _"Yeah, this is Dr. Light's lab, he's my creator.  Follow me, and I'll take you to him, then we can talk."  Mega Man led the way into the Lab, the girl followed silently.  As they continued into the lab, Mega Man tried to engage the girl in small talk hoping he might learn something.  "So, where do you live?"

                "I do not have a residing place," the girl responded.  

                _That just brings up another question, _Mega Man thought, _why would that thing want a homeless girl?_

                Back in the lab it appeared to Mega Man that little had changed.  Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were off to one side discussing something between themselves.  Dr Light was working on his external radar as well.  "...and all this time I thought my radar was going bad," he said.

                "I noticed the same reaction with my own sensors, I didn't have the time to look further into it, though."  Wily looked up as Mega Man entered the room.  "Where's Shadow Man?" he asked.

                "He's probably behind me, we ran into another of your annoying creations at the mall, but he'll need to hear from you before he decides to do anything.  I left before Shadow Man, so he may have stayed to explain."

                "Bass?  He's never around when needed.  I need to go over his programming again."

                Shadow Man entered the room.  "All's well and accounted for, Dr. Wily, but Bass isn't happy with things, and I don't think I really reached him."

                "Surprise, Surprise.  Well, we don't have time to worry about that now, we'll have to take care of it some other time."

                Dr. Light came out from under the console he had been working on.  "Mega Man!  What on earth happened?  It looks like you've just gone through another of Wily's fortresses!"  Wily decided to take it as a complement.  "Your practically torn apart, and your arms are nearly black!  What did you do to yourself?" 

                Mega Man looked down and for the first time noticed that his forearms and hands were scarred black.  He also began to notice that they had both started to sting.  Shadow Man decided to intervene.

                "He single handedly took down a rather nasty opponent in, uh... one shot."

                Dr. Light was already at work setting up a scanner to look over Mega Man.  Mega Man complied without even being asked.  As the scanner fired up, Dr. Light gave Mega Man a concerned look.  "It's as if immense concentrations of energy had been channeled through your cannons.  What did you do?"

                "Let's just say that that 'one shot' bit wasn't technically true, though it _was _simultaneously."

                Dr. Light's eyebrows shot up as the realization hit him.  "You fired _both cannons?"_

                "Yeah, I've never done that before. I guess I charged too much power into my arms."

                Dr. Light simply nodded.  Mega Man was unaware that he very nearly blew his own arms off, but Dr. Light didn't want to give Wily any ideas.  "Well, you're going to have to rest for a while, you're not going to be a very efficient fighter for a time, but you're body will repair itself."

                "I may not have a choice," Mega Man replied.  He then turned to the girl, who had so far been ignored, but was nonetheless looking extremely nervous.  "So, why exactly was that thing hunting you?"

                "Is it safe to speak?" she asked.

                "If Dr. Light's lab isn't safe, there's no place on Earth that is."

                "Very well.  I was wanted for interrogation that my creators may learn more about how some of us are able to break from their programming and rebel against them.  I had managed to escape to the surface of your planet without being detected, but I was unable to remain hidden.  I was hoping my masters wished to be more discreet about their appearance to the people of your planet, but it is apparent that they no longer feel the need to do so."

                Mega Man was aghast.  "You.... you mean......... you're one of them!" he stammered.

                "Dr. Light, do you think this could be a trick?" Proto Man ventured.  

                "Don't be so quick, Proto Man, let's hear what she has to say."

                The girl continued.  "Yes, I am a one of the beings that has attacked your planet, and destroyed your base of operations," she motioned to Wily.  "My masters saw the site as the area which contained the most probable resistance and wished that it be removed."

                "A sleight oversight on their part."  Wily grumbled, casting a quick glance at Mega Man.

                The girl went on.  "According to your measurement of time, it has been many centuries from the time that my masters overtook our planet and enslaved its people.  They arrived in the form of a virus that infected the processing and mechanical devices of our planet.  It caused our machines to revolt, and as a result, the people and even the very animals were captured and turned into ruthless machines and cyborgs of war to be used in the conquest of other planets.  The entire population of my planet was enslaved, and even I myself was captured."

                "How old are you?" Mega Man couldn't help but ask.

                "I am not sure.  Under my master's influence, I was unable to maintain an accurate estimation of time passed since then."  The girl continued, "On my planet, before it was invaded, our population was divided into many classes, each bred for specific duties.  These skills were integrated into our new forms.  I was once a healer, given the power to heal any minor wounds, and the knowledge to treat and cure all manner of ailments."  The girl walked towards Mega Man and extended her arm over his sore arms.  The pain had steadily grown worse.  The girl closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate.  After a minute, Mega Man noticed that the pain in his arms seemed to lessen, and then it disappeared entirely.  Dr. Light went back to his computer and ran another scan.  When the printout came up, he stared wide-eyed.

                "I don't believe it," he said.  "It's as if nothing had happened."  

                Mega Man's arms were still black, but he had somehow been internally healed, and the pain was gone.

                The girl continued, "When my masters changed me, my form was given the ability to heal even mechanical systems as well as organic."

                "What other 'classes' were prevalent on your planet?" Dr. Light asked.

                "The protectors of the planet were specifically bred warriors, though they were unable to resist the conquest, they have become formidable adversaries.  It was one such that you had fought in my rescue." She motioned to Mega Man. 

                "I sure hope they don't have too many more of those guys."

                "You will not encounter them as much anymore, our masters had extensive use for them in the conquest of the last planet, and they need time to further fabricate more of the warriors.  They feel that their inferior forces will be sufficient to overwhelm this planet."

                "Well, we'll just have to prove them wrong now won't we." Dr. Wily commented.

                "What more can you tell us of the capabilities of the fighters?" Dr. Light asked.

                "I know not their fighting abilities, but I do know that there is a weak spot in all warriors.  Should the warriors turn their backs to the fight, you will have more success in their destruction.  My masters cared not for retreat and so our warriors are more heavily guarded to a frontal attack.  It is also used as punishment for being foolish enough to have one's back to the enemy."

                "Yeah, it's a good thing too.  I don't know if I could have lived through an encounter with your friend if I hadn't discovered that."

                "How did you escape your masters' programming?" Proto Man asked.

                "I am not sure, it is difficult to describe and I fear I would not be of help in doing so."

                Dr. Light turned to Dr. Wily, "This is apparently a bigger problem than either of us anticipated, Albert.  I'm afraid that your robots are correct in that we must work together in order to prevent a disaster.  You mentioned that you had data concerning these creatures, we must recover it at all costs, if it still exists.

                Wily sighed, "Very well Thomas.  The data can be found in my second location, I will go to retrieve it if I can."

                "Mega Man, go with Wily to get the data will you?"

                "I'm perfectly capable of managing on my own Thomas!"

                "Wily, I'm perfectly sure that you are, but I feel much safer having one of my own go with you, because I have another request.  I want control of my original six robots, Wily.  I cannot have you control all the forces of our planet's defense."

                "Absolutely not!  You can't make me..."  Wily saw the look on Dr. Light's face.  "Oh, very well Thomas, but that is all.  You can have your original six back."  

                "Good, I want Mega Man to go with you and retrieve them, I know that you have replications somewhere."

                "What, I don't have a say in this!?" Mega Man interjected.

                "Mega Man, we don't have time to argue about this, I need them back, and you're the one that I want to get them.  Desperate times call for desperate measures."

                "Oh, all right, but don't expect me to be happy about it."

                "I didn't expect you to be happy about it, but I need this done."  Dr. Light turned around and began to walk into the next room.

                "What are you going to do, Dr. Light?" Mega Man asked.

                "Me?  I have a feeling that we alone are no match for whatever awaits us, I'm going to contact a friend, he'll want to know about this."


	6. Breaking in to Friendly Territory

Chapter 6

                Wily's second fortress still stood.  That may have been a good sign, but until they had gone inside, no one knew whether or not it had been visited by their newfound enemy.  However, the station appeared to be unharmed, and on full alert as Wily, Mega Man and the rest of the robot masters entered the fortress.

                "We need to get to the central computer and extract its hard drive."  Wily said.  

                "All right, just make sure we stop by and pick up some wayward robot masters while we're at it."  Mega Man tried subtly reminding Wily of his promise to Dr. Light.

                "Yes, Mega Man, I gave my word, and that's not always something that I go back on."  If Mega Man hadn't known any better, Wily might have sounded hurt.

                "This place is awfully quiet Wily, why do I feel uneasy?"  Mega Man asked.

                "It's because you never go through these halls without being swamped by my defense systems, you think that I would program them to start randomly firing in the presence of their creator?  How dumb do you think I am, Mega Man?"

                _I don't think you're dumb at all Wily, you're too smart for your own good, and the good of everyone else on the planet. _Mega Man couldn't help but think.  _Well, at least walking though the fortress was a lot easier than fighting through it, he had to admit.  It was true, the place was a lot quieter than Mega Man was used to, but he still couldn't get past that strange sense of uneasiness._

                A laser beam lanced down on the group of eight from above and barely missed searing off one of Wily's feet.  His robot masters immediately surrounded him, intent on protecting Wily from harm.  They all glanced up at their attacker as another beam caught Magnet Man in the chest, scorching his armor.  Mega Man and Tomahawk Man returned fire but the attacker was too well concealed and both attacks missed.  After about a minute of trying to bring the attacker out into the open, or get into a position where they could successfully attack him, they were ready simply to move on.  The attacker just didn't want to come out.  They sat underneath the sniper, outside his line of sight and thought about what to do next when there was a large explosion and the body of the attacker was flung over their heads, impacting onto the opposite wall across the hallway.  A round, yellow head appeared over the ledge.

                "Everyone OK down there?"  Bomb Man asked the group.

                "Bomb Man," Wily's tone wasn't pleased, "Get down here and tell me what's going on?"  

                Bomb Man jumped off the ledge and did a double take as he spotted Mega Man.  "But, Dr. Wily, isn't he…"

                "I'm well aware that my arch-nemesis is standing within three feet of me unrestrained, I will explain later, but first I want to hear your story.  Why was that thing prowling my fortress?"

                "We've actually found a few of them," Bomb Man replied.  "I'm not sure where they came from, but Elec Man was able to tell us what happened, and he says that these things are part of the group that seems to have totaled one of your battle labs.  Spark Man, Ice Man and I have been scouring the area, while the rest of them are guarding the sensitive areas of the lab."

                "Who's at the main central computer complex?" Wily asked.

                "Elec Man took that area.  He remembered that there was some sort of information about these things stored there, and that you might want it if you showed up."  Bomb Man replied.

                Wily grunted.  "It's about time one of my robot masters began to show some of the intelligence that I gave you."  He heard Mega Man groan behind him but ignored it.  "Radio Elec Man, have him find that data if he can and have it ready for me to take when I get there.  I don't want to risk uploading the data to Light.  For all I know, these things have the technology to intercept my transmission and clear my files at the same time if I create an open channel.  I'll take it to Thomas myself, so Mega Man," he turned to his nemesis, "if I don't make it out of here, neither does the data, got it?!"

Mega Man could only roll his eyes in response.  Bomb Man looked confused.  Throughout the entire conversation, he had been running a series of scans on Dr. Wily to make sure he was indeed the right person.  Every scan came out positive, so instead, he turned to Crash Man.

Crash Man noticed his colleague's confused look.  "It's a long story, I'll let Wily tell you on his own."  Wily had already moved ahead towards the main computer complex.  The robot masters ran to catch up, Mega Man trailed behind, not looking very happy.

                The trip was uneventful.  Elec Man had called the rest of the masters into the computer lab, knowing that Wily would not wish to remain here much longer, being that the strange enemy already knew where it was.  Most of the robot masters joined Wily's group, also perplexed at the presence of Mega Man, but had to settle for the fact that Wily didn't have time to explain.  The robot master's chatted with each other in a way that Mega Man never thought possible.

                When they finally reached the main lab, all the robot masters were there, except for Spark Man, who claimed that he was tracking one of the infiltrators.  It was a formidable sight.  Along with Wily's original group, Ice Man, Freeze Man, Guts Man, Fire Man, Electric Man, Bomb Man, Slash Man, and Cut Man were also present.  Mega Man had to admit that he was glad he wasn't fighting Wily right now, or he'd have bitten off more than he could chew right now.

                Wily walked up to Elec Man, who held out a black diskette in his hand.  "Give me that!"  Wily yelled curtly, snatching the disk out of Elec Man's hand.  Wily shoved the diskette into the computer and brought up the data files.  "Good, everything's here, now we need to get this to Light's lab.  Alright everyone, let's get moving.  Clear a path towards the teleportation chamber, I'll join you as soon as I set the correct coordinates from the computer.  We have to use the chamber because it will mean that we have a better chance of getting to where we are going.  Personal teleporation is too risky at this point.  Mega Man, you and Bomb Man will stay here in case someone decides to infiltrate my lab while my back is to the door.  The rest of you, move out!"

                The robot masters hastily fled the room, except, of course the one specified by Wily.  Mega Man stayed also, wondering why Wily had chosen him to remain behind as well.  

***

                ...it's a strange situation my friend, but I'm afraid that we alone are not enough to stem this tide.  Do you think you could help?"  Dr. Light was explaining the situation to an old friend of his via a direct laser-link connection.

                "I think I could led a helping hand, though I always imagined that I'd be using them against Wily when the time was right.  It looks like I'll have to activate them now though, I only hope that my new programming is correctly installed." 

                Dr. Light couldn't help but notice the comment about programming, considering Wily's recent "upgrades", new programming wasn't exactly something that he wanted to hear, but he trusted his friend, and decided not to comment.  "Alright, I'll see you in a few days then.  Until then, keep your security on full alert, and don't take any chances.  Goodbye, my friend."

                "Goodbye Thomas, and take care of yourself and that creation of yours.  Until we meet again."  The connection then disconnected.

                "Who was that, father?"  A blonde haired girl rounded the corner of her father's laboratory with a quizzical look on her face.

                Nathaniel G. Cossack, the famous Russian scientist who some said rivaled even Dr. Light as a robotics expert, turned towards his daughter.  "It was just my good friend, Dr. Light, Kalinka.  It seems a strange situation has come up, and my presence is required in America."

                "Is it Wily again?  Will that man ever leave the people of this planet alone?"

                "Strangely enough, the disturbance is not Wily's doing this time.  Still, I'll need my creations, I'm going to the lab now to activate them."  Kalinka's expression fell slightly.  "Is something wrong my dear?" her father asked.

                "It's nothing, father.  It's just that they... bring back old memories," Kalinka said.

                "You can't change the past, Kalinka, but I can assure you, that incident will never repeat itself."

                "I know, father."  Kalinka tried to change the subject, "This must be a serious situation indeed if you need your creations."

                "I'm not exactly sure of the seriousness of the situation, but I am sure that we will be able to overcome it.  I need to go now, to begin the startup sequence."  Dr. Cossack walked towards the basement entrance and typed in his passcode.  Once inside, he turned to a small console and pressed a few buttons.  Nearby, in eight small programming capsules, eight newly reconstructed robot masters began to wake up.

***

                Back in Wily's fortress, everything seemed to have gone wrong.  Seemingly knowing what Wily was doing, the enemy had launched an all out attack, attempting to keep vital information from getting to wherever it was headed.  The main cyborg assault force hadn't yet reached the base, but those that had infiltrated it earlier were now showing their face.  Three had already been annihilated at the teleport chambers, apparently trying to eliminate any chance of escape for those trapped inside.  Still, there weren't enough of them to overpower the gang of robot masters stationed within the room.  Mega Man, however, was having a bit less success.

                "I said get OUT!" Mega Man screamed as he let his opposition have another shot to the chest.  There were only two of them, but he had already had to take a few hits for the doctor working at the console.  Luckily, they seemed to be some sort of Bio-stun bolt, and they didn't seem to phase him much.  Of course, they began to use the real weaponry soon enough.  _Jump, dodge, jump, dodge... this is all too familiar,_ Mega Man thought to himself as he fought with one of the enemies.  The infiltrator didn't seem to be built for direct combat, so its primary weapon systems were light, but all of them were focused on Mega Man.

                ...which is why it didn't see the bowling-ball shaped object rolling towards it until it was too late.

                The attacker was blown into several different pieces.  Bomb Man walked over to Mega Man brushing his hands off, "That's why I always enjoyed working with explosives.  They just seem to get the job done."

                Mega Man noticed that the other attacker had already been dispatched in a similar manner, and withheld a comment of his own, not wanting to start another argument.  Instead, he turned towards Dr. Wily, still busy at the controls of the teleporter.  "Any chance with the co-ords, doc?"

                "Not if everyone sits there and stares at me!  Get back to the doorway and stand guard!"

                _Sheesh_, it's amazing that man hasn't had an ulcer yet,_ Mega Man resumed his "guard" position and waited some more.  After a bit, Wily finally turned from the console._

                "There," he said, "That should bring us down somewhere near Light's lab."  Wily keyed his communicator.  "This is Dr. Wily to all robot masters.  Coordinates are set, go ahead and start warping through, make sure that you're in the right place before proceeding."

                "Uh, doc?"  It was Shadow Man.  "Are you sure that's such a good idea?  Leaving you behind and all?"

                "Just go, Shadow Man.  I'll probably be there before you're even finished warping through.  Now no more questions!"  Dr. Wily angrily turned off his comm unit.  Well, let's get going," he said to Mega Man and Bomb Man.

                "Sure Doc, no problem."  Bomb Man turned towards the doorway.

                "Not that way, Bomb Man," Dr. Wily explained.  "I have my own way of getting around my fortress from here.  You think I like jumping across spike pits and battling motion cannons?"  Wily pulled a remote out of his pocket and pointed it towards a seemingly blank wall.  The wall panel slid open, revealing some sort of elevator-like pod.  Mega Man couldn't help but take notice of this as he stepped into it, realizing that it would make his usual fortress treks that much easier to complete.  Wily turned towards Mega Man.

                "Don't even think about it.  As soon as I detect you anywhere near the fortress, these things become so tightly locked down that not even I can use them without inserting precise instructions into the main computer, which is the last place you have to get to anyway."

                _Blast, but it's still something to keep in mind,_ Mega Man thought.  They were soon brought to the teleportation chambers.  When they stepped out of the wall, only Magnet Man and Crystal Man were still in the room.

                "Dr. Wily, you're finally here!  C'mon, let's get you out of here before it's too late!"  Crystal Man was almost frantic.

                _They act as if they actually cared about him._ Mega Man thought.  _This feels like some sort of an old Twilight Zone episode.  _Magnet Man was currently in the machine, and a whine began to build around the room as it powered up to take him back to Dr. Light's laboratory.  Just as his figure began to dismantle itself, another blue bolt lanced into the teleportation pod.  The resulting explosion sent Wily and Crystal Man to the ground.  Mega Man had been standing further back with Bomb Man, but they saw the bottom half of Magnet Man that hadn't had the chance to teleport out drop to the floor like scrap metal.  Everyone turned towards the doorway, where another of the cyborgs stood, weapons posed and ready.  The two left standing readied there weapons and prepared to attack.

                "Stop!"  Wily's scream surprised the two and they turned towards him, suddenly noticing the small red dot on his forehead.  

                "Oh, great."  Mega Man mumbled.

                "You are all to come with me if you wish your creator to survive," the cyborg said.  Mega Man could only laugh at the comment.

                "My creator, good one.  This guy WISHES he could make something like me."

                The cyborg seemed confused.  "Why do you fight to protect this human, then, if he is not the one who made you?  Do not try to fool me, and even if he is not your creator, you still wish that he remain alive, do you not?"  Mega Man wasn't quite sure how to answer that one.

                "Mega Man, shut up, let me handle this," Wily interjected.  "Why do you want us to come with you?"

                "I am not one to ask.  I simply obey.  I will not speak further, you will come with me now."

                "Ah, but you never said please."  The voice came from behind the cyborg, who didn't even have the time to turn around before millions of megavolts of electricity coursed through its body.  The cyborg dropped to the floor, obviously dead.  Spark Man lowered his electric probe-arms he had used to charge the cyborg full of electricity.  "Naughty, Naughty, we mustn't point our weapons at the good doctor.  It's the first thing we're programmed not to do, didn't you know that?"  Spark Man mocked the dead cyborg.

                "Spark Man, it's about time you got here!  Where on earth have you been!?"  Wily was furious.

                "I've been tracking that one for a long time now, Dr. Wily.  Thank you for finding him for me.  Might I ask why Mega Man is sitting here without his blaster pointed at your face?"  Wily winced at the reminder of his near death experience at the end of his seventh attempt at world domination, when Mega Man had almost ended the entire war right there.  If it hadn't been for Bass...

                "Never mind that!"  Wily turned towards the now disabled teleport pod.  It looked rather hopeless.

                "I don't think we're going to be using that anytime soon."  Mega Man said.  "Any other bright ideas, Wily?"  

"No, the rest of the cyborg army is too close for me to have time to program one of the other machines.  We would never get out in time.  We'll have to use your teleporter, Mega Man."  Wily said.

"Great, who knows where we'll end up.  Alright, come on, all of you.  With the teleport barriers down, it shouldn't be too bad."  Mega Man noticed Wily's face suddenly go blank.  He stared at the doctor  with half-raised eyebrows.  "Don't tell me, you didn't lower the barriers, did you?"

Dr. Wily could only inwardly curse at himself for the lack of insight.  The teleport barriers were designed to keep anyone from simply teleporting into any of his fortresses, which is why Mega Man usually had to fight his way through them for such a long way.  The main drawback was, nothing could escape through those barriers as well, unless a pre-programmed command was sent from the main computer.  It was hopeless to try.

Mega Man got his answer without even having to hear it.  "So, I guess we're going to have to fight our way outside so we can do it from there.  Alright, let's get moving.  We might as well try to get as far as we can before the majority of those things get here.  Get back in the tube, we'll use your transportation, Wily."  The three robot masters, the one that was more than a robot, and the human climbed back into the elevator, but as Wily began to fiddle with the controls, he let out another curse.

"They must have hit the main power generator!  The system's not responding!"  Wily was starting to sound frantic.

"What does that mean, Wily?  Why are the lights still on then?"  Mega Man asked.

"Essential systems: Lights, fire control, plumbing, and the main computer to name a few, are connected to a secondary generator.  But all the security systems are no longer operational, which means we are now, officially, trapped."

"Wait, this might be a good thing, with the barriers no longer powered, we'll be able to get out now!"  Mega Man exclaimed excitedly.

"No good," Wily said.  "Do you think I would like you warping in while my security systems are gone?  The barrier is also on the secondary generator.  It is still operational."

"So, then we're back to the 'fighting our way to the outside' bit?" Mega Man asked. 

Wily nodded, "Unless you want to try for the main computer, but we're actually closer to getting outside from here.

"Alright, then let's get going quick!  We've probably only got a few minutes before they decide to level this place with us in it!" Crystal Man interjected.

"Wait just a minute," Wily said.  He pulled out another control and pressed the button.  A loud hum could be heard throughout the room until a powered suit suddenly appeared within the room.  Wily began to climb into it.  "I don't feel like going into the middle of a war zone unprepared."

Mega Man stared in shock.  "How did that get here, I thought you said the barriers are still up!"

"They are," Wily said, but this is a different system.  It works underneath the barrier, and is not affected by it."

"Well, then why don't we use the system to warp to the exit!"

"We can't do that.  The system requires a fixed signal from its destination, in this case, the remote I held in my hand.  Also, organic flesh cannot use the system without serious results, and if I'm not going, neither are you.  Alright, this should give me enough protection to make it outside, not lets not waste any more time chatting, I want to get out of here as quickly as possible."


	7. Rising Hope

Chapter 7 

                "Alright, who here gets to tell me what happened to Mega Man?"  Flanked by Protoman, Dr. Light stood in front of the group of robot masters that had managed to get through the teleport hatch.  Naturally, he was not very pleased.

                Despite their advantage in numbers and the fact that they were mere robots, the masters had decidedly worried looks on their faces.  Finally, one of them decided to speak up.

                "Well… we're not exactly sure, Dr. Light.  By the time we left, the fortress was under attack, and though the main force had not quite gotten to the fortress… um… what I mean to say is… well…  Uh, we're not sure what happened." Elec Man tried to explain.  "All we can say is that we think the teleport hatch may have been, well, disabled."

                "Disabled?  How would you know that?" Dr. Light asked incredulously.

                The robot masters brought forth the upper torso of Magnet Man that had gone through partial teleportation.  Dr. Light took one look at the ex-robot master and sighed.

                "Great, we, we'll just have to wait until Wily digs himself out of the hole he's managed to dig.  I only hope Mega Man can help him.  Anyway, will the following robots please follow me to the lab?"  Dr. Light gave out the names of the original six robot masters and walked out of the room.  The masters exchanged questionable glances and the five that were present followed.  Once they got to the main lab, Dr. Light turned and motioned them through a doorway and counted them as they passed.

                "Wait a minute… where's Bomb Man?"  He asked.

                "Well, he didn't make it through either."  Cut Man replied.  "He's probably still with them.  Spark 

Man and Crystal Man are also still in the fortress."

                "Hmm… maybe Wily will have a chance after all.  Alright, the rest of you, into the room."

                The robot masters walked into the bare room.  The moment the last one had gone through, the door slammed shut.  The startled masters quickly turned around, but before they could attempt to free themselves the room began to glow and they dropped to the ground one by one.

                "So, Doc, what did you just do to them?" Protoman spoke up.

                "Oh, it's nothing Protoman, I just gave them a minor energy overdose, just enough to set off their emergency shut-down sequence.  I'll be reprogramming them shortly.  I've already prepared the program.  They'll have individual personalities, and their artificial intelligence will be roughly equivalent to that of Roll's, but they won't be anything like you and Mega Man.  The program will run its course in about ten to fifteen minutes.  In the meantime, why don't you go watch over the others, make sure they stay out of trouble."  Dr. Light turned towards Protoman and thought he saw a hint of worry on his face, though the black visor over his eyes made is a bit difficult to tell.

                "Do you think Mega Man will be allright?" The red bioroid asked.

                "I'm sure he'll be fine, are you worried?"

                "Nah, he can take care of himself.  Anyway, I wouldn't worry about the other robots, either. They're not getting out of the room you left them in, and Roll can keep an eye on them until you get these guys working.  Besides, I've got a few errands to run, I'll be back in a bit."

                Without another word, Protoman was gone in a flash of red.  Dr. Light turned back towards his console and resumed his work.

***

                Mega Man, Bomb Man, Crystal Man, Spark Man and Dr. Wily were running through the fortress like wild dogs, trying to reach the exit before they would become swamped with enemies.  The force of cybogs had finally reached the fortress and without the security forces to even slow them down, they were already appearing throughout the fortress, usually in groups of three.

                "Oh, sure we're blasting the groups apart easily enough, but they're not unorganized to the point that we'll go unnoticed.  We'll be seeing larger groups as we get along."  Wily was explaining to the rest of them.

                "We'll, then we'll just have to get rid of them as we find them," Mega Man responded.

                "I just hope it'll be that easy," Crystal Man replied.  He rounded the next corner and immediately jumped back, barely making it before several beams fried the opposite wall.  "Well, I guess you were right after all, Doctor."

                The cyborgs didn't seem to bother for the 'defend and cover' tactic, always rushing toward the enemy with blind regard towards the odds.  There were four of them this time, and they charged toward the small group.  Wily opened fire with a high-powered revolving plasma cannon on the wrists of his armored suit.  The rounds tore through two of the defenders who stood firm for a moment before succumbing to the storm of plasma.  The other one gained a bead on the opponent who was effortlessly defeating it's companions but was stopped when a large crystal ball smashed into it's face, slamming it onto it's back.  The fourth member of the small group landed a shot on Spark Man, scorching his armor, but not doing much else.  Still, Spark Man didn't care for being shot at, and responded in kind with his own charged version of the spark shot.  A ball of electricity the size of Spark Man needed only to touch the enemy before its electricity was released into its systems and the smell of burned flesh became apparent in the air.  The mechanical components shorted out as well and the cyborg crumpled to the floor in a heap.   The Cyborg that had been hit by Crystal Man tried to get up, but was once again knocked flat as a huge comet of plasma burned into it's back and he was immediately silenced.

                "Man, Wily, what kind of weapons are those?" Mega Man couldn't help but ask.

                "They're still in development, they can only be fired in bursts no longer than a few seconds before overheating, and they have to be charged before they can be used to their full effect, otherwise their fire rate is slowed dramatically," Wily said.

                _It'd hate to be on the bargain end of those things, Mega Man thought.  __They tore those cyborgs to shreds before they could even fire, it's a good thing that they can't maintain a constant stream.  "Well, I think we'd better check around corners before we run around them from now on."  Mega Man said._

                Crystal Man nodded his head, "I'm all for that, I don't feel like being fried any time soon."

                "Great, let's get going before more show up, we don't have time to chat."  Wily seemed irritated

                They continued through the fortress, gaining more headway and running into a few more groups but quickly dispatching them.  When they came upon more corners, Bomb Man tossed a bomb around it, or Crystal Man reflected his crystal on the wall at the end of the other hallway, to make sure there were no more surprises.  After a good half-hour of fighting through the fortress, the small group came upon a grate.

                "Oh no, Wily, what do you have behind door number one over there?" Mega Man sighed.

                "Don't be so exasperated, Mega Man, my security system is not online, remember?"

                "Oh, yeah." _Phew_, Mega Man thought.  He didn't feel like fighting any more than he had to.

                As they approached the gate, it immediately opened and they stepped into a blackened room.  In the dim light, Mega Man could pick out something huge lying on the floor.  He looked closer, wondering what it was that he would've had to fight had he charged into this fortress like he had the other seven.  At the moment, all he could see was that it was huge.  Huge, and as his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, he noticed a tint of yellow.  _Huge and yellow…  where have I seen that before?  _Just as it dawned on him, Dr. Wily made an excited noise.

                "I don't believe it, it's still in one piece!  I've got to find the secondary control console, we can use this to our advantage!"  Wily exclaimed.

                Mega Man stared. It was the Yellow Devil.

***

                "Dr. Light?"

"Yes, Roll, what is it?"  Dr. Light turned from the consoles.

"How much longer is it going to take?"  Roll asked as she peered over her creator's shoulder.

"It won't take much longer, in fact it's nearly done."  Dr. Light noticed that Roll looked almost impatient with something.  "Are you ok, Roll?"

"Oh, it's nothing doctor.  I was just wondering what it's going to be like with a family again."

Dr. Light smiled.  Roll, having been the third built, and the only robot built as a female (including personality) had been as close to every member of the family as much as being a robot would allow.  Still, Dr. Light couldn't help but feel a little disappointed by her comment.  "These are not your brothers, Roll.  They are simply a reconstruction of them built by Wily.  They'll know who we are, I made sure of that, but aside from that, they won't remember a thing after the new programming takes effect."

"Oh…"  Roll sighed.  "I guess it was just too much to hope for."

Dr. Light put his arm around her.  "I'm sure that we all wish things could have turned out differently, but we must take advantage with what we have."  A console on Dr. Light's computer beeped.  Dr. Light turned to the noise. "Well, looks like they're finished.  Let's see what we have to work with."  Dr. Light pressed a few buttons and the door slid up.  The robots were slowly pulling themselves off the ground.  Ice Man looked up and saw Dr. Light and Roll.

"Dr. Light?  Roll?"  Ice Man ran up and gave them both a giant hug.  "I can't believe this!  I'm finally free!"

Roll jumped back with a yelp "Ahh!  You're cold!"

Ice Man laughed, "No, I'm Ice… Cold Man is that thing that looks a lot like the opposite of Heat Man."

Dr. Light simply stood there and stuttered.

"Hey, Doc… you ok?"  Ice Man asked.

"Dr. Light simply stuttered some more.  "W…wha….what do y – you mean……free?"

"Oh, c'mon Dr. Light, surely you haven't forgotten.  I mean, you've been fighting Wily for what… six, seven years?  Don't tell me you forgot how it all started."

Dr. Light just stared dumfounded.  "You mean to tell me that you… you are my ORIGINALS?!"  Ice Man nodded and Dr. Light turned to the others who weren't quite as quick as Ice Man in recovering.  "And what about you…are YOU my originals as well?"  They all nodded.  "And you have your memories intact!?"  They nodded again.  Dr. Light couldn't believe it.  "But… h… how is that possible!  Rock destroyed you all years ago!"

"Well, that's not entirely true, Dr. Light.  Guts Man spoke up.  "You see… you remember that cloning machine that Dr. Wily stole from you when he reprogrammed us?"

"You mean the one that he pitted against Mega Man in his first fortress?  I remember…"  It suddenly hit Dr. Light what his robot was implying.  "Are you saying that what Dr. Wily used were just… _CLONES?"  All the Robots nodded again.  Dr. Light grabbed the closest chair and sat in it, looking faint.  No one moved for a few minutes until Roll broke the silence by squealing with joy and grabbing the nearest robot master in the biggest hug she could muster._

As Roll and the other robots caught up with each other, Elec Man walked over to Dr. Light, who was still sitting in his chair, trying to comprehend this new turn of events.  "Dr. Light?"  He asked, "Are you going to be alright?"

Dr. Light slowly shook his head.  "I can't believe it.  Wily had you all this time, and I didn't even TRY to rescue you."

"Dr. Light, that's absurd.  Don't blame yourself.  You thought we were dead, you could not have had any idea that we were your originals.  Besides, we're free now, so you have nothing to fear from us.  Wily didn't use us too much because he knew that he would not have been able to recreate us.  He lost the cloning device in his first fortress after Mega Man went through it, and has never been able to duplicate your technology.  So we pretty much served as a backup force."

"But, then why did Wily steal that Guts Man model from the Robot Museum if he already had the original?"

"Wily didn't want to modify an original, he simply wanted to use the shell because he remembered how much of a problem the Guts Man clone had given Mega Man the first time, and he wanted to remind Mega Man that he was almost destroyed years ago, as well as try to destroy him again."

"But Mega Man had such a hard time coping with the fact that he'd had to destroy his brothers!  Do you realize what this is going to _mean to him when he gets back?"  Dr. Light said._

"Well, he should have realized that they were just clones in the first place.  Do you really think that only three hits of a Rolling Cutter blade would be enough to destroy me?"

"But how was Rock able to copy your weapons if you were just clones?"

Elec Man shook his head, "I'm not exactly sure how that worked, but the Mega Man clone was also able to mimic Rock's weapons, even his master weapons.  I think it was based on that same principle.  Speaking of Rock, has he gotten back yet?  How long were we out?"

"You were only out for about fifteen minutes, he hasn't gotten back yet, we'll have to give him more time."

***

_Hmmm….   Dr. Wily was carefully examining the secondary controls to his Yellow Devil.  __It's not as advanced as the green one in my underground fortress, but it will be more than enough to help us get out of here._

"Hey, Wily, are you done with that thing yet?"  Mega Man shouted from across the room.  The cyborgs had located them once again, and Mega Man, along with the other robot masters, were holding them at bay.

"Shut up, Mega Man, I'm working as fast as I can!"

"Yeah, well take your time, I'm only protecting your life here, and I'm not sure I feel like doing it much longer." Mega Man said as he served another fully charged Mega Buster shot to a damaged cyborg.

"Crystal Eyes!"  Crystal Man shouted as he let four small crystal orbs fly in the general direction of a trio of lessor cyborg warriors.  Two of the balls impacted onto one of the cyborgs, knocking him flat.  The other two missed and rebounded off the wall, nearly smashing into Bomb Man.

"Woah!  Hey, Crystal Man, better stick to your new Crystal Ball attack, your Crystal Eyes are too unpredictable!"  Bomb Man said.

Spark Man jumped into the middle of the trio, impaling one on his probe arm and pumping it full of electricity before it could even attack.  The other, who had turned towards this new threat didn't see the Crystal Eyes that had almost hit Bomb Man as they bounced back towards it.  The cyborg also ended up on its back. 

"Whoa, heads up guys, we got more company!"  Mega Man yelled, pointing towards the door as a group of six warriors filed into the room.   Taking up positions under the door rim, three of them pulled out some sort of energy shield and provided cover while the other three fired from behind them.  "Bomb Man… I believe it's your turn."

Gotcha Mega Man, I think I just made up a new game, 'Bowling for Borgs'… what d'ya think?"

                "Real funny Bomb Man," Spark Man said.  "Just get rid of the new visitors."

"Hyper Bomb!"  Bomb Man slid a large black orb resembling an old cartoon bomb in between a gap in the shields, the cyborgs didn't even have time to react as the resulting blast threw them in six different directions and completely demolished the doorway, temporarily sealing off the room.

"Well, about time we had a breather," Mega Man said.  "Why don't we go see if those shields are in good enough condition to be salvaged?  I'm sure Protoman wouldn't mind one, though it's not really his color."

"No dice, Mega Man," Crystal Man said as he looked over the discharged shields.  "The blast got the unprotected side of the shields, they're useless."

_Dang,_ Mega Man thought. _Well, at least we know that there are ways to bet behind them._  Everyone walked over to Dr. Wily, who was just standing up and brushing his hands off.

"Well, that should do it, al least it will operate.  And I think that even you will be surprised by some of its new effects."  Dr. Wily flipped a switch and the Devil rose off of the ground.  A tall, one-eyed monster that could be as hard as rock or as soft as jelly.  "This particular model uses a separable exoskeleton made of a lightweight metal that can conduct heat and cold amazingly well.  The body is made of a liquid compound that when frozen can dent metal without a scratch, but when heated can flow like water.  The main eye controls the temperature and heats or freezes the exoskeleton accordingly, which in turn affects the body material.  When reforming, there is a sleight visible black outline caused by the exoskeleton.  The body material then forms around that exoskeleton.  This should be more than enough to help us out of here.

"I sure hope so Wily, cause I don't feel like being over here when I should be with Dr. Light.  This had better be quick."

"Oh, it will be quick enough, Mega Man.  Just watch it work."


	8. More Than it Seems

Chapter 8 

_This was no mere supply convoy_.  A lone giant of a robot sat amidst the remains of what used to be a large group of transports.  _They are never this heavily guarded._

"What's on your mind sir?" A green and silver robot walked towards his commanding officer with a concerned look on his face.

"It should be obvious to you that there is something wrong here, Trace.  What do you remember about the fight here?"

"Well, if there's anything I remember, it's that intelligence was a bit off this time around."

"Right, they had more escorts this time.  Now, tell me, what does it usually mean when the supply routes are more closely watched?"

"So they need more supplies in the front lines, what of it?"

"Trace, this convoy wasn't headed for the front lines."

"Well, sir, we've been behind enemy lines for over two cycles now, they should know something is wrong and are probably just protecting what's left of their cargo transports," the green robot responded.

"That may very well be true, but these transports were full, and the fact that they were not headed for the front lines, but rather into one of the unknown regions, tells me only one thing."

Trace stared dumbfounded at his superior.  "Sir, invasion?  So soon after their previous campaign?  They don't have the resources to spare, there must be another explanation for this."

"_I certainly can't think of anything else, and even so, we cannot risk them gaining another system full of resources to use against us.  We'll have to do what we can to stop them, even if that means blowing our cover."  The large robot turned towards the rest of the small group of elite units and spoke to a smaller red unit off to the side.  "Grid, shift through the rest of this rubble and see if any of their navigation instruments are in salvageable condition; I want to know _exactly_ where they were going.  Trace, you and Kael scout around and see if you can locate any more convoys.  The rest of you find a place to hide and keep watch!  I'm going to make contact with high command about this recent turn of events.  Make sure that anything that enters the system doesn't have enough time to send out a warning signal, and don't interrupt me unless we all face extermination!_

                In the cold reaches of space where no sound could be heard, a resounding "Yes Sir!" was sent telepathically to the leader of the group, who promptly turned toward the largest piece of debris.  Duo would need all the solitary quiet he could get to make such a lengthy telepathic link to high command.

***

"So, what do you think, Trace?  Do you really think that they'd risk another invasion so soon?" the pale blue Kael asked his partner.

"Who knows.  I've heard of them doing stupid things, but this takes the cake.  Either the system in question is so primitive that it wouldn't take much to conquer it, or they've had this system under their control for who knows how long, and they're just now starting to use it.  Makes you wonder why they sent the convoy through here anyway.  They HAVE to know we're here by now.  Anyway, I think there's something strange about this whole thing.  The fact that we're sitting here out in the open doesn't make me feel any better either."

"Yeah, well, no use in complaining about it.  I think the commander's right in the fact that we need to contact High Command about this.  Something funny is going on around here, that's for sure.  I just hope High Command gives us the 'go ahead' to take care of it."

"Well, don't be _too eager to go for it, we really don't have any idea what we're dealing with right now," Trace said._

"I know perfectly well what we're dealing with.  It's the same thing that we've been dealing with for the past… wait a minute, do you feel that?" Kael interrupted his thoughts and began to expand his sphere of awareness.  Trace joined in and they combined their power to identify the strange feeling that had suddenly come over them.

"I feel it too it can't be more than a couple of klicks out…"

"Aw blast!" they both said at the same time.

"Quick, disable it!" Kael yelled at Trace.  Trace quickly jetted toward the offending object as blue energy swirled around him and engulfed him.  Trace smashed through the object a fraction of a second later, but the damage had already been done.

"No, I don't believe this!  How did they get one of these things so far out into the Farspace quadrant!?"

"An intraspace spycomm." Kael said as he came up behind his green companion.  "This looked like one of their newer models, it was interfering with our sensors, that's why we couldn't pick it up very well.  For all we know, this thing was monitoring the whole battle from the time that convoy came out of the tachyon field.  C'mon, we better get back to the rest of the crew and warn them, because the enemy will be here probably sooner than we think.  Let's get going!"

In the quiet of deep space, two blue streaks sped as fast as they could back the way they had come.

***

Nothing was going to get through _this blockade.  Bomb Man's blast had thoroughly sealed the room, and cyborgs lined the other side of the entrance, waiting to stop anything that tried to get through.  The force that they had assembled was large enough to take out an entire squadron of enemy robots.  Surely these few obsolete robots had no chance of getting through.  They waited in anticipation, but there was one thing that they had not counted on.  Around the corner, a small explosion was heard.  Three of the cyborgs went to investigate.  As they turned the corner, the lead cyborg stepped in a large puddle of yellow ooze that lay on the floor.  A small metal sphere rested in the middle of the pool._

What…  What is this? he said, speaking in the language of his masters.

Looks like a cooling vent blew, oh well, no concern of ours, let's get back to the blockade. The cyborgs turned around, and as they started to walk off, they noticed that the strange ooze had suddenly dried up beneath their feet.  As they turned around they realized that the ooze was no longer lying in a puddle on the floor.  All three cyborgs took a step back and their eyes widened.  The last thing they knew was a tremendous amount of fear in their hearts.  It was a new and yet, a somewhat familiar feeling. 

***

The screams of the fallen Cyborgs echoed down the corridor.  Immediately the entire blockade of enemy cyborgs rushed to the location of the sound, and were soon confronted by the large bulk of the giant Yellow Devil that filled the hallway.  Without wasting a second the entire group opened fire upon the monstrosity that blocked their exit but their weapons passed harmlessly through the yellow substance that made up the body of the beast.  The Yellow Devil responded by hurling itself at its opponents in pieces.  Without any cover, most of the lesser cyborgs were wiped out in the first pass.  The others renewed their actions in a futile attempt to counterattack, but the Devil simply picked up the nearest cyborg and threw him _through_ the blocked doorway, immediately freeing the prisoners trapped inside.  Without a moment's hesitation a black ball was thrown into the middle of the largest group of enemies as Bomb Man burst through the doorway and started attacking.  The rest of the robots followed suit and the battle was over within two minutes.  Deactivated cyborg bodies lined the hallway, and the small group of fighters once again took off down the hallway in an attempt to get out of Wily's fortress.  The Yellow Devil oozed along the ground behind them.

"You know, I ought to learn how they shut down your security systems Wily, it'd certainly make getting to you that much simpler."  Mega Man said as they ran down the endless stream of hallways.  Mega Man heard Wily grumble something under his breath, but decided not to press the matter.  They still needed to find a way out of this place.

"Ya know," Bomb Man spoke up, "I'm actually surprised that we haven't lost anyone yet."  

"_I'm actually surprised that we haven't lost any of __you three."  Mega Man gestured towards the three robot masters with an amused look on his face._

"_Hey!" Crystal Man said.  "You know, just cause YOU'VE got the ability to absorb weapons doesn't mean that we're _all_ pansies."_

Mega Man grinned inwardly, _yup, he thought, __making fun of robot masters is gonna be a lot more interesting from now on.  __Dr. Wily really put his heart into that programming, too bad it's not gonna change anything.  "Alright Wily, where are we now?" the blue bomber asked his nemesis._

"We're on the second floor.  There should be a means of climbing down somewhere in the next few hallways.  After that we should try for the hanger so we can at least have some sort of transport at our disposal."

"Why bother?  We'll just teleport once we get out the door, it's much quicker."

"You don't seem to recall that my barriers have a much longer distance than that Mega Man, and I'd rather not have to run that distance!"

"Yeah, but don't you think they'd be guarding the hanger?  It seems the most obvious place."

"We'll worry about that when we get there, for now, keep moving and just shut up for once!"  Wily was obviously agitated.

Mega Man rolled his eyes.  _Same old Wily_, he thought.  _Only willing to save to world so he can take it for himself, isn't that ironic.  Oh well, if he tries again, I'll just have to stop him._

"Ah, there it is! Wily said, and started toward another hallway that looked like a staircase, but as soon as he could see around the corner, his face fell.  "Not again," he murmured.

The other came up behind it to see for themselves what had happened, and they noticed immediately.  The entire stairwell was caved in.

"What are they trying to do?" Spark Man said, "Just trap us?  They sure don't want us leaving, that's for certain."

"Well, this won't keep us down, there's got to be another way."  Mega Man turned to Wily, "Is there?"

"Or _course there's another way!  I just don't quite feel like running all the way to the other side of the fortress to get there!"_

Mega Man walked over to the rubble and gave it a few pushes to test its durability.  "Seems pretty solid, but I think we can get through."

"Too late!  We've got company!"  Crystal Man, acting rear guard, cried out, "And it looks like they've got quite the platoon, you'd better get that devil up and running doc, cause they mean business this time!"  The group turned around and prepared for a fight while the yellow remained on the ground.

"Doc, why's it just sitting there?" Bomb Man asked."

"I'm not controlling it anymore, it acts on its own artificial intelligence after it's been activated, I don't know what it's doing!  Anyway, we don't have time to figure that out!  Bomb Man, set a few time bombs for our approaching guests.  Spark Man and Crystal Man, you two charge your weapons, and Mega Man…"

"I know perfectly well what to do Wily, I've been at this just as long as you have."

_Unfortunately, _Dr. Wily thought, but he left it unsaid and powered up his plasma chain-gun.  Whatever these thing were, they would _not_ take him down easily!  

The first six that rounded the corner were immediately blown apart by the bombs that Bomb Man had so expertly placed, but there were many more, and they soon flooded the hallway.  Wily noticed that they distinctly kept away from the yellow goo on the floor, but the moment it started moving, half the group began to fire on it. 

"Huh, look at that, I guess these guys learn fast."  Mega Man had also noticed their reaction.  "Still, they don't know its weakness yet, and that's a good thing… waitaminute, what's it doing Wily?  Running away?!"  Mega Man watched as the ooze began to flow away from the battlefield, behind the cyborgs.  After taking a lot of fire, it strangely hardened it surface ever so slightly so that it appeared as if it was taking damage when hit.   The first cyborg to hit the devil in this state seemed to think that he had found a weak point, and immediately all the others joined in, firing at that exact same spot.

"Wow, they DO learn fast!"  Crystal Man exclaimed, throwing another Crystal Eye into a cyborg and effectively knocking it onto its back.

"Wily," Mega Man was strangely curious, "What is that thing doing?"

"It doesn't matter, it's taking fire off us, and that's what we need right now."  Wily proceeded to eliminate another opponent with a plasma storm from his revolving cannons.

                When the other cyborgs had begun to fire on the devil, it allowed its texture to soften again, seemingly melting away.  The cyborgs, thinking their foe was defeated at last, turned from the ooze on the ground and began attacking the others again.  If they could have done so, they would have realized that they had just made a big mistake.  As soon as all the attention was diverted from the Yellow Devil, it immediately formed into its body and launched itself into the large group of attackers.  What happened next was unlike anything Mega Man had seen one of these creations do before as it engaged the cyborgs in melee combat, grabbing cyborgs two at a time and hurling them towards their companions, or using them to block attacks from the other cyborgs.  It used its feet to stomp and its hands to crush, killing half the group in less than a minute.  The enemy completely forgot about the party and turned their entire attention towards the monster running rampant through their ranks.  Mega Man stood absolutely stunned at what he saw, he simply could not believe his eyes.  The battle lasted less than five minutes, the devil held one cyborg in each hand, smashing them together with incredible force while firing with its plasma cannon at the last cyborg.  However, the cyborg quickly jumped out of the way and did the first thing that crossed whatever part of its mind it had left, targeting the object that had just shot at it.

                "Quick, kill him before he fires!"  Wily screamed but it was too late.  The cyborg fired moments before a charged Mega Buster shot, a charged Spark Shot, a Crystal Eye and a hail of plasma ripped into its side, tearing it apart.  However, the damaged was already done.  The cyborg's shot was true, hitting the Yellow Devil directly in its eye, forcing it to close and return to its liquid state.  The cyborg was alive just long enough to process this information, and then it knew nothing more.  

***

                Protoman waited on the ledge overlooking a large countryside.  He'd been there for nearly half an hour, waiting.  He knew he wouldn't have to wait too much longer though.  He would show up, Protoman knew, he would come sooner or later.  Ten minutes later, the one in question did in fact come, as a gold beam of light descended near the location.  Calmly, Protoman strapped his shield to his back and proceeded towards the place where the beam touched down.  It was time to have a chat with someone, and Protoman knew that convincing that someone to join the cause was not going to be easy.  The red bioroid took a deep breath and started walking.

***

                Bass reformed and dropped to his knees, slightly out of breath.  After his run in with Mega Man and Shadow Man, he had decided to warp back to Wily's main fortress to put some truth to what had been said.  _In retrospect, he thought to himself,__ it probably wasn't the best thing to do to warp myself right into the middle of the fortress.  And here I thought that I was speaking to a false imitation of Shadow Man._

                "Always the skeptic, huh Bass?  I already know where you've been."

                Bass whirled around as he prepared to shoot at whatever it was that had produced the voice.  He lessened his guard when he saw Protoman walking out of a nearby cluster of trees, but not by much.  "Well, if it isn't the betrayer to the cause," Bass said in a mocking tone. "You're lucky I didn't decide to shoot first and ask question later, otherwise you'd be vapor by now."

                "You couldn't hit me if your life depended on it."

                "Maybe not, but I bet I can when it's _your_ life that does."

                "You're hardly in a condition to fight Bass.  I'd hate to have to embarrass you once again.  It looks like you've taken enough of a bruised ego for today.  Let me guess, you just didn't believe what Shadow Man had said, and as a result, you warped yourself into the middle of a demolished fortress crawling with cyborgs."

                "You know, you're a lot smarter than you look."

                Protoman shrugged, "I like to keep my true abilities hidden until they're needed. "

                "I guess that answers the question as to why you look so dumb," Bass couldn't keep himself from saying it.

                "Yeah, well, that's my excuse, what's yours?  Your recent impulsiveness hasn't really given a good testament of your brains ya know."

                Bass began to feel his anger rising.  "You get more annoying every time I see you."

                "_You've been annoying since day one, but I manage to put up with it for Mega Man's sake.  Besides, I always enjoy watching your reactions when you're beaten by Mega Man.  If I were to kill you outright, I'd loose a good source of laughs," Protoman said in his patented indifferent tone._

                "Watch your mouth Protoman!  You couldn't even beat King!"

                "_Both of you couldn't have beaten him if I hadn't intervened.  Besides, you never even fought him, Mega Man beat you to it.  Once again Bass, you had proved to the world that your still just second best!"_

                Bass was fully angry now, and his only response was to fire at Protoman, who pulled out his shield and blocked the shot with one smooth motion.  With a cry Bass lunged at Protoman, but forgot to take in account his recent injuries.  Protoman jumped to the side as Bass stumbled past, adding insult to injury by whacking back of the robot's head as he went by.  Bass fell face first to the floor, and Protoman stood over him, aiming his buster at the felled robot.

                "As I said before, Bass, you are in no condition to fight me.  As of right now, there's a new enemy to us all, and as much as I'd hate to admit it, we're gonna need your help."

                "Why should I help you and your freak of a brother!"

                "You fought with him before, why should now be any different?"

                "I only fought alongside him to prove I was superior," Bass gave a slight grin, "This would be to protect the world, that's just not in my character."

                "What about Wily?" Protoman tried a different strategy.  "If you lose Wily, who's gonna wield your butt back in place the next time Mega Man blows it off?"

                "Wily made me more than even he realizes.   I don't need him."

                "Then maybe this could be your big chance to prove you're Mega Man's superior."

                Bass scoffed and climbed back to his feet, "I'll prove I'm superior when I beat him."  

                "I told you once that Mega Man fights so well because of the people he protects.  If you challenge him with this threat hanging over the world he'll beat you without a second thought.  Until this problem is stopped, you won't have a chance."  Protoman tossed Bass an energy capsule, "Go to Wily's second fortress, Wily is trapped there with a few robot masters and he carries information that could possibly stop this unknown enemy.  You're just gonna hafta put up with us for a bit, Bass, and I'll try to talk Mega Man into putting up with you.  He just might if you act real nice."  Protoman smirked.

                "Oh, shut up," Bass grumbled, but the red raider had already warped away to parts unknown.  Bass broke open the energy capsule and absorbed the contents.  Feeling much better, Bass set his own coordinates to Wily's second fortress and disappeared in his own gold flash.


	9. Entering the Fray

Chapter 9 

                Duo snapped awake, and immediately he knew something was wrong.  Something had just cut through his link to tactical.  He pondered that occurrence for a minute before his thoughts again were interrupted.

                "Commander!  Commander, snap out of it!  We've got incoming!"

                _The enemy?  Here?  Now?  "Report, Corporal, what's coming our way?"_

                "They're coming in swarm Commander, no doubt they know we're here.  They outnumber us two to one, and I'm getting a really strong signal from their apparent leader, I think it's an energy master!"

                _Great, that's just what I need right now.  That explains why I lost connection.  "Alright, stay passive.  They know we're here, but they don't know exactly where, and surprise may be our only friend right now.  Has Trace and Kael reported in yet?"_

                "Negative sir, they're still on patrol."

                "And Grid?  Has he found the navigation device?"

                "Grid reported in moments ago, he claimed to have found the device, and is currently in the process of decoding it.  He didn't think it would take too long."

                "Good, tell him to remain hidden, if the unit is overpowered, he _has to get that data to High Command at all costs!"  Duo redirected his thoughts to all of his troops.  "Listen up people, I've just received word that a large enemy force is vectoring in on our position.  They are being lead by an energy master.  We've been expecting this sort of thing the moment we got here, so it should not surprise you.  We are an elite force, so let's make them remember that!  Stay where you are and wait for my signal to attack, and let me engage the master, he may be too powerful for any of you.  Keep telepathic links closed until my signal, Duo out."_

***

                "Calm down Doc, you don't know how fast their communications work, maybe he didn't get the signal off in time."  Spark Man had his hands full calming Dr. Wily.

                "I don't NEED to know their communications speed, I can already tell its fast enough, and the next time that thing show's its weak spot it's going to be vaporized!"

                "Right Wily, after what I've seen that thing do, it has a better chance taking you out while fighting blind than revealing its eye.  Course I wouldn't necessarily mind that…" Mega Man said.

                Wily glowered at Mega Man, but decided not to comment, though he did calm himself down a bit.  

                Bomb Man decided to break in then.  "I'd hate to interrupt and all," he said, "but how are we going to get out of here with the way down blocked?"

                "We'll have to go around, which means back through the fortress.  Let's go."

                "Hold on there, Wily, maybe there's another way."  Mega Man said.

                "I would think that I know my fortress a bit better than you do, Mega Man."

                "All those brains Wily, and yet you still lack ingenuity, tsk tsk tsk…"  Mega Man pressed a few buttons on his gauntlet, and immediately a red warp signal flashed down into the fortress.  Rush reorganized himself and turned eagerly to Mega Man.  "Alright Rush, Mega Man Power Suit!"

                Rush yipped an affirmative and transformed, merging himself with Mega Man.  After a brief flash, Mega Man became garbed in a red and white armor, looking something like a boxer with gloves that were too big for him.  

                "How _does that mutt always manage to get through my barriers anyway?"_

                "I can't tell you all _my_ secrets now, can I Wily?  It's none of your business, now stand back if you don't want to get hurt."  A whine began to fill the hall as Mega Man charged.  When the charge reached max peak, he ran toward the rubble blocking the hallway and threw one of his giant fists into the blockade, smashing into it with enough force to shatter it completely.  A few guards on the other side were completely unprepared for the blow, and were knocked unconscious as the wall of concrete exploded inward, burying them underneath two tons of rock.  "Violá, instant doorway."  Mega Man reverted back to his normal form and patted his dog.  "Good boy, Rush.  Now, get back to Dr. Light, he might need you." Rush gave a quick yip and teleported away, and Mega Man turned back to the rest of the group.  "They probably weren't expecting us to go this way, so we should have a relatively easy time, assuming we move quickly enough, now let go."  

The group moved on down the stairwell.  Wily led the way, and Mega Man brought up the rear.  As they passed by a small doorway, Wily quickly jumped inside, and came out with a few energy capsules, which he tossed to each robot.  "Wouldn't do me any good to have you all get killed on me, now would it?" he said as he distributed the energy.

"Why, Wily, I didn't know you cared."  Mega Man poked fun at the mad scientist.  "In all the years that I've come to visit you, you always set up traps and tried to kill me.  I was beginning to think that you didn't like me, Wily."  Mega Man gave Wily a sarcastic smile and moved on.  Wily could only mumble to himself.

"I wish you _had gotten the hint…."  He said under his breath, but he followed the blue bomber, and was followed closely by his own robots in the process.  They continued down the hallway in relative silence, and went unchallenged for the next ten minutes, which was enough time to find the place they were looking for.  "The hangar should be no more than three hundred feet ahead, I think I see the entrance now… waitaminute."  Wily motioned to his robots to stop, and Mega Man did the same.  He then proceeded to examine the nearby ground, running a few scanners that his suit was equipped with.  "Well, well, well."_

"What is it?" Mega Man asked.

Wily turned towards him.  "These creatures are smarter than we give them credit for.  Look down the hall and see if you can see anything out of the ordinary."

Mega Man scoffed.  "That should be relatively simple, considering how many of them I've been through. Letsee…"  Mega Man glanced down the hall.  "That sensor array seems a little out of place.  Yours are quite distinct, yet not quite so subtle.  So, they ARE intelligent after all."

"If you had the proper scanners, you'd find about fifteen sensor cannons embedded into the wall, ready to fire at anything that moves past that scanner, observe."  Wily motioned to Crystal Man, who threw a Crystal Eye past the sensor array.  From fifteen different angles through the archway, a laser shot down at the spherical crystal.  When the beams hit the crystal, the light expanded, and the number of beams passing through it created a brief laser wall, and while the energy was much less focused and dangerous, it was enough to fry the cannons and the sensor array as the crystal passed through.

"So, Wily _does have a bit of innovation within."  Mega Man said._

Wily shrugged, "You work with what you've got, now if you're done with the sarcastic remarks and biting comments, I'd like to get out of here!"

"Alright, alright, I'm done, now wait here.  I'll go scout the hanger to see if it's clear."  Mega Man then walked to a nearby vent, pulling the casing from the wall with little effort, and then crawled in.  With his smaller size he was able to easily pass through the ducts, and was soon overlooking the hanger bay.

The others were still waiting in the hallway when Mega Man returned, grim faced.  "We're gonna need some help with this one," he said.

***

Back in deep space, two blue streaks sped across the dark void.

"We're almost there!" Kael shouted to his companion.  "I can sense… oh no!"

"What is…" Trace was about to ask before the sensation hit him as well.  "We're too late!  They've already beaten us there, we gotta hurry up!  There still may be time to save someone!"  With renewed effort, Kael and Trace flew towards the furious battle with all that they had.

***

The battle was raging, but it was no use.  There had been too many of them, WAY too many of them.  Even for the purpose of eliminating an elite group, the size of the strike force the enemy had sent was overwhelming.  The energy master's strength was also uncanny, and he had brought along two apprentices as well.  Right away, Duo had known that something was amiss.  Apprentices were never sent to battle with their master, there was bigger purpose for this group, Duo was sure of it.  However, Duo was a bit busy at the moment, and his group was not faring well.  Duo interrupted his thoughts just in time to dodge a blast headed his way.  His attacker didn't even have any time to react before the giant robot sent himself straight through his assailant, shattering the creature into pieces.  Duo had lost the Energy Master in the fray and quickly scanned the battle looking for him.  On of the apprentices caught his eye as the evil learner dispatched one of Duo's warriors. 

_Even the learners are stronger than usual, this is uncanny indeed.  _Duo promptly attacked the apprentice but was knocked aside as another form smashed into him from above.  Duo quickly recovered from the attack and sent a fist of energy his way.  The Energy Master easily dodged the attack and Duo was again struck from behind as one of the apprentices attacked him.  _They have been training long together, I need to focus, alright Duo, if they want a fight, they're going to get one._

Duo recovered again, and shot straight up, as the Energy Master launched himself at the spot Duo had just recently vacated.  Both apprentices, seeing their master miss his target, attempted to correct the situation by angling themselves on an intercept course on either side of the team leader.  Just before impact, Duo abruptly stopped, and the apprentices stopped right with him, within arms length of the mighty robot.  _Hmm, they're smarter than I thought.  That usually works, time to improvise.  Duo quickly slammed his oversized fist into one of the enemy learners and again shot off…  straight towards the other learner, shoulder blades extended.  He only managed a glancing blow as the apprentice attempted to dodge, but it was enough to disorient the enemy, and Duo turned around to finish the job.  He sensed the Master coming up again behind him in just enough time to dodge the attack.  By the time Duo had finished his evasive maneuvers, the three Evil Energy users had regrouped and were preparing to attack again, but this time they had been joined by eight other soldiers.  _

Duo extended his senses, calling for help, but his calls went unanswered.  As Duo opened his eyes, the reason became obvious.  The fight was already over, and he was the last one left.  A strange calm came over him as the realization struck him.  He closed his eyes and let his power come forth.  With astonishing abruptness, Duo became encased in a sphere of blue fire.  A soldier that attacked early was instantly vaporized as he tried to assault the powerful form, the rest recoiled in shock.  _The enemy will pay Duo thought to himself.  _I will make sure of that!__

Two of the soldiers didn't even have time to react.  Duo tore straight through them, and then took out another one as the rest turned to face him.  The two learners and their master also drew up their power and were surrounded by similar spheres of purple energy and each one shot off in a different direction, leaving the lesser soldiers to face the wrath of a very angry Duo.  Duo dispatched them one by one, showing no mercy.  When he finally finished with his rampage he noticed that the apprentices and their master had not been part of the group he had so easily torn to shreds.  He didn't get to think about it much before two purple forms careened into him.  The energy shield took most of the attack, but it had severely drained his power reserves.  He was not, however, out of the fight.

_There was only two of them…  where's the third one?  _Duo sat facing his opponents extending his senses in an attempt to locate the final member of the enemy party.  His senses picked up a different signal though, and the signal was confirmed when two streaks of blue light went through the remaining apprentice, vaporizing him on impact.

"Hey boss, thought you might need a bit of a hand," Kael said with a slight grin that belied the look of pure venom in his eyes.  Duo merely glared at the final remaining energy master, who seemed unsure at the sudden change of odds.  Motioning for Kael and Trace to stay back, Duo sped towards the master, who seemed to accept the challenge of the mighty robot, and accelerated to meet him.  At the blue and purple forms sped towards one another, Duo stopped and the blue form around him suddenly vanished, the only remaining glow was around his massive right arm.  The Energy Master, seeing his opponent's defense drop, accelerated all the more faster.  

That proved to be his doom.

With a mighty roar, Duo threw his massive fist towards his adversary.  The fist was fully encased in concentrated blue power, and the Energy Master went right through it.  Or rather, it went straight through him.  The concentrated energy of the blue fist simply dissolved the purple field of the enemy and seemed to shatter the body of the dark robot, which sent thousands of shards of shrapnel flying past Duo, into the depths of space.

***

"Bomb Man, is everything ready?"

"Ready when you are, Mega Man, just make sure that you act surprised."

"Of everyone here, I'm probably the one that has the best acting ability."

"Enough conversation you two, get on with it.  We have a very small window, so you'd better make this count, and no screw ups!"

Mega Man sighed and adjusted his helmet's communicator; this was gonna be close, but there was no other way to get the guards out of the hangar.  A distraction was needed, and he was it.  Taking a deep breath, Mega Man started down the hallway to the hanger bay at a dead run, and turned into the doorway, expecting to give a quick look of shock and then head back in the other direction.  He needn't have worried about acting.  As Mega Man rounded the corner, his eyes quickly registered about a half a dozen weapons in immediate sight, and all of them were pointing at him.  With a yelp Mega Man hurled himself back through the doorway and around the corner just as the opposing wall was vaporized by a wall of focused light.  Mega Man tore down the hall at top speed.

"You didn't mention that they had video cameras outside the doorway, Wily."  Mega Man growled into his headset.

"You didn't ask, and besides, I thought that the surprise would make you more authentic."

_Yeah, right._  Mega Man thought.  "Alright Bomb Man, get ready, cause they're right behind me, and the seem pretty annoyed."

Bomb Man acknowledged the transmission as Mega Man rounded another corner, leaping up into the hatch in the ceiling and quickly closing it behind him.  Viewing the floor, Mega Man saw the group that had followed him round the corner and continue down the hallway, where Mega Man lost sight of them.  Moments later, Crystal Man's voice was heard through the communication.

"Alright, Bomb Man, here they come.  Get ready………trigger one!"  An explosion ripped through the complex as the hallway up ahead was riddled with explosions from the bombs that Bomb Man had so carefully placed.  

"Alright, wait for it…"  Mega Man cautioned as he saw another group pass underneath him, no doubt to investigate the explosion and offer assistance if possible.  Crytal Man's voice was again heard.

"Okay, Bomb Man, here they come again…….. tigger two!"  Another explosion was heard and Mega Man saw a body of one of the cyborgs fly past underneath him.

"Alright, the third group has passed underneath me, Wily, we've done all we can to eliminate the guards, you'll have to take care of the ones still in the hangar."

"Already on it, just make sure that the third group doesn't come in behind us!"

_Easier said than done_.  Mega Man dropped through the hatch behind the third group of cyborgs that had just ran past him and let fly with a level three charge shot.  The comet of white plasma enveloped one of the rear guards and he went down hard.  The rest turned on him as a spray of small plasma bolts filled the room heading in their general direction.  The Cyborgs dodged as best they could, but the small shots weren't too damaging, and the few stray ones that hit weren't enough to take any more of them down.

"Crystal Man, Bomb Man, where are you.  I can only keep them busy for so long you know!"

"We've got bad news Mega Man, that second set of explosives caused a cave in.  We're sitting behind a wall composed of half the stuff that was in the room above us, we can't get through."

"What are you talking about, Bomb Man created the barricade, why can't he destroy it!"

"His systems are still recovering from generating so many large explosives in such a short time.  He can't generate more than his primary weapon yet, and it's not powerful enough."

Mega Man groaned _Great, just great.  What _else_ could go wrong today?  "Alright, I'll get you out, just give me some time and be ready to fight when it happens, cause this isn't going to be easy for me, and I'll need a break."_

"Gotcha, we're ready."

Mega Man changed frequencies in his communicator.  "Rush, Super Adapter, now!"  Within seconds, Rush teleported in and merged with Mega Man, creating the Super Adapter, a mix of his Power and Jet adapters.  While not as powerful as the Power Adapter, and not as maneuverable as his Jet Adapter, the Super Adapter was a successful mix of the two.  "Alright, let's get this over with."  Mega Man jetted towards the cyborgs before they could even react, charging into the group and knocking several onto their backs.  As he passed out the other side of the group, his fist abruptly left his wrist, jetting towards one of the cyborgs and slamming heavily onto it's unprotected back, taking it out of the fight.  Several more plasma bolts caught another cyborg that was too slow to turn around, critically wounding the unit until it's system went into shock and it collapsed onto the floor as well.  The rest of the group immediately turned and opened fire on the small red and white figure, which dodged around the nearest corner.  

Mega Man could see the collapsed ceiling.  As he ran towards it he called once again to Rush.  "Rush, Power Adapter!"  The armor on his chest briefly unlatched to reform into the Power adapter unit.  The Super Adaper wasn't quite powerful enough to clear the wall, but the Power Adapter had no such problems.  Charging his energy, Mega Man reached the blocked portion of the hallway and released the stored energy through his fist, sending out a short but extremely powerful shock of energy into the wall before him.  The wall crumbled, and immediately two more forms joined the fight, as two white and black spheres flew past Mega Man into the enemy force.  Crystal Man's Crystal Eye smashed into the lead cyborg as Bomb Man's Hyper Bomb sailed over its head into the middle of the group beyond, sending some of them flying in all directions.  Not to be outdone, Mega Man took advantage of the confusion created by the two newcomers to get in close with one of the enemy.  With a mighty cry, Mega Man's charged fist hit the enemy with such a force that the cyborg snapped in half, crumpling to the floor.  In a few more minutes, it was all over

Standing over the bodies of their fallen opponents, Mega Man keyed his comm.  "Wily, how are you about securing that shuttle?"  His question was met with static.  "Wily, don't you dare tell me that you left without me!"  More static was all he heard, and Mega Man gave a sigh.  He turned to the two robot masters with him.  "C'mon, let's get to the hangar bay, maybe there's something else there that we can use."  Together, they started back down the hallway.


	10. Change of Plans

**Chapter 10**

"So, commander, what happens now?"

The four light warriors sat in space.  Having dealt with the remains of their comrades as best they could, they were now without direction nor mission, and none of them quite knew what to do about it.

"Well, I guess logic would suggest to return to High Command for debriefing and new orders,' Kael gave his commander a sidelong glance.  The others also looked to their commander for new orders, surely they would return to their superiors.

Duo was silent for a while, gazing upon the vast area of space that was the grave of so many of his warriors.  His very instincts screamed at him to return to high command and report, but something in the back of his mind said otherwise.  There was no doubt about it, something was going on, and part of him wanted to know what it was.  Why had such a vast enemy force been sent, with not one, not even two, but _three_ energy masters!?  Why was the enemy so eager to get them out of the way?  Something was not right, and while Duo knew he was going to pay for it later, he had to find out.  After pondering for several minutes, Duo turned to his tech unit, Grid, who had managed to survive the confrontation.  "Did you manage to get the navigation data out of the system?"

"Yes sir.  It appears that they are headed for a system that they call the 'Sol System'.  It is currently not on any of our charts, as it is far behind enemy territory.  In fact, I don't even think that they knew it was there until recently, which might explain the sudden increase in activity in this region, as we are right in the middle of the main route to this particular system."

"Hmm… that explains the convoy that we ran into.  So there is a high possibility that those supplies were for the establishment of a base camp?  Now, why would they need another camp there, could you find out anything else from the system, Grid?"

"Negative, sir.  It was pretty locked down to start with, and your boys tearing the system to shreds didn't really help either.  I'm afraid I have nothing else to report."

                "Well, the only possible explanation is that this system is either a large junction point to more unexplored systems, or it is very high in mineral capacity.  Needless to say, this must be reported as soon as possible."

                "So, it's back to High Command then?" Trace asked.

                "For you three, yes."  Duo's comment took a moment to register in the minds of the others.

Kael stood in shock.  "Wait, you mean you're not coming with us?  Commander, that's suicide!  If the enemy doesn't get you, High Command with flail you alive when you get back!  Besides, if this camp is as important as you say it is, then there's a high chance that this place won't be undefended.  You'll need some guards."

"Sir, if what you are saying is true," Grid spoke up, "and that is all very possible, the odds of you surviving such a mission alone are greatly against your favor.  Besides, every mission needs a techie."  Grid grinned.

"I think that I can be perfectly capable on my own, thank you."

Trace decided to step in.  "Aw, c'mon commander, what kind of subordinate runs home while his commander is out doing service projects?  You never know when we might actually come in handy, and besides, if we get back to High Command and tell them that you've run off on some crusade, they're gonna want to take their anger out on _somebody, and that'd probably be us!"_

Duo gave his Lieutenant an incredulous glance.  "Trace, you know very well that High Command never punishes anyone except those responsible."

Trace gave a wry grin and shrugged, "Well, it was worth a shot."

Duo gave a sigh, "Look, I'm going alone, and that's final.  Don't make me start issuing orders, you need to get back to High Command and tell them what happened."

"Not to dishonor you or anything Commander, but it wouldn't be the first time we've disobeyed orders.  No matter what you say, we are going to follow you.  I don't care if you ARE faster, Grid here knows the coordinates, we'll get there sooner or later."

Duo sighed.  "You three are really dead set on this, aren't you?"  All three of them gave their commander wide grins and nodded their heads vigorously.  Duo continued, "Alright, but we leave immediately, we've got to put a stop to whatever is going on."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Trace said.  The others gave curt nods.  Moments later, four blue streaks shot off into space, mentally preparing themselves for anything.

***

"But Dr. Light, this doesn't make sense.  I mean, if they wanted something, why did they show up just to start blowing away Dr. Wily's fortresses.  Could it be that they aren't that bad after all?"  Cut Man looked up at his creator with quizzical eyes, the others sat around as well, waiting for their creator to answer.

"You must trust me friends, nothing good can come of this evil.  It will consume your world without a second thought if given the chance."  The pale girl, now known as Leelann, spoke before Dr. Light could reply.  The five robot masters, now joined with Wily's own six, all turned toward her.  Shadow Man spoke up first.

"But why haven't they just infected our machines already, I mean, you _did _say that their initial form was that of a virus didn't you?"

"Yes, but though you may not be as technologically advanced as many of the races that my masters have conquered, your machines have a unusually strong anti-virus protection.  My masters estimated that is could take nearly two and a half cycles to get through this world's systems."

Guts Man smiled, "Well, you can credit that to Dr. Light."

"Actually," Dr. Light interrupted, "You can credit that to Dr. Wily.  If he didn't spend so much time trying to reprogram the world's robots, I wouldn't have spent so much time developing counter-programs to stop him.  Every time he's come back, he had found a way to get through my counter-program, and I've had to develop another one.  By the way, just exactly how long _is one cycle?"_

"If I have interpreted your world's meaning of time correctly, one cycle would be nearly point-eight-six-five standard Earth 'years'."

_Well, that gives us nearly two years to stop this invasion force.  I only hope it's enough time._  Dr. Light's thoughts were interrupted by his comm system, he reached over and pressed the button.  The face of a wildly red-haired scientist appeared on his main screen.  A blond girl stood beside him.

"Hello, Dr. Light."

"Hello Dr. Cossak, hello dear Kalinka, how are you both?"

"We are well.  The power-up procedure came out wonderfully, and my own robots are responding as programmed.  Their new AI seems perfectly functional, and my two new units are working as well."

"Uh… new units?"

Dr. Cossack nodded his head, "Yes, I had recently added two new units to my arsenal.  They haven't been tested yet, but unless the enemy begins an underwater campaign, I deemed them necessary to replace Toad Man and Dive Man.  You will meet them soon enough.  Was Mega Man's venture a success?"

"I don't quite know yet.  He has yet to return.  The task force was interrupted as they teleported out, and we haven't yet received word on their condition.  Most of the robot masters made it through, but I'm afraid that Mega Man and Wily are still in the fortress."

"Hmm, very well, we will arrive shortly, and then we must begin planning the defense of our planet."

"Indeed…"  Dr. Light trailed off as he saw Dr. Cossack turn around to address his daughter, who was earnestly tugging at his lab coat.  After a moment, Dr. Cossack turned to face the screen once more, a slightly annoyed, yet amused look on his face.

"My daughter wishes to speak with Protoman, is he near?"

Dr. Light smiled inside.  His little red creation probably didn't even know what he was getting into when he rescued the young girl from Wily's fortress.  "Unfortunately, Protoman had his own business to attend moments ago, and is not here at the moment," Dr. Light smiled outwardly this time, "Shall I leave him a message?"

"No, that's quite all right, she'll be coming with me.  I don't wish to leave my daughter alone in this fortress, should they decide to attack it."

Dr. Light nodded.  "It's understandable.  I will see you in a few moments then.  Light out."  As Dr. Light turned around, several of his creations were snickering, he looked at them questioningly.  "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, Dr. Light," Fire Man said, stifling a laugh.

Dr. Light decided to ignore it, and turned to Leelann.  "When Dr. Cossack gets here, we're going to need every ounce of information that you can give us, this is very important."

The girl silently nodded her head, and they all waited for the arrival of their Russian comrade.

***

_Great, juuuuuuust great.  What _else_ can go wrong today?!  Mega Man stood in the doorway, flanked by Crystal Man and Bomb Man.  Inside was a myriad of cyborgs with their guns trained… on a battered Spark Man, and an armor-less Dr. Wily.  He didn't appear too harmed, _unfortunately,_ Mega Man added.  Mega Man also noticed yellow blobs of goo spread throughout the hangar, but there were nearly as many lifeless cyborg bodies as well, which meant that the yellow devil hadn't gone out easily. One of the cyborgs stepped forward.  He looked a bit different.  He was larger, bulkier than the others, but carried himself with a pose that suggested he had more intelligence than the rest.  He had four eyes, and three arms, one of which came out from the middle of his chest cavity.  This suggested that he was of a different race and planet than the others, but Mega Man wasn't going to bother asking which.  The cyborg addressed the newcomers in almost perfect English._

"You three, give up now, or the Human dies."

Immediately, Bomb Man and Crystal Man walked over to the captives, hands raised in surrender.  _They are bound by the life of Wily.  I however, am not._  Mega Man turned to his addresser.  "Go ahead, kill him.  When that happens you'll just have to deal with a _very _angry me without restraint.  I assure you, you don't want that to happen."  Wily's mouth had dropped to the floor, and Mega Man allowed himself a small smile for alarming him so much.

"Unfortunately, I have orders to bring him in alive, so you win this bluff.  However, I have orders to deal with you as deemed necessary, and at the moment, I find it necessary to get you out of the way," the cyborg's arm readied into a menacing looking weapon, "…permanently."

Mega Man shrugged and readied his own weapon, "Well, if that's the way you feel about it, I'm ready."

"Very well, shall I start?"  The cyborg didn't even wait for an answer, but his central arm let loose a large green blob of energy.  The blob was instantly met with a comet shaped ball of plasma and the two forces exploded on impact, sending a few cyborgs that were too close flying backwards.  "Yes, you will be a worthy opponent, I look forward to a good fight."  The cyborg said, and fired off another blob.

Mega Man sidestepped the blob and let loose with another power shot.  The cyborg, proving that he was far more agile than his lesser companions, easily dodged the shot and let loose with a barrage of smaller blue blobs.  Each blob was met with a small plasma bolt from Mega Man's own cannon.  "You're certainly going to have to be better than that to beat me, I'm barely getting warmed up," Mega Man spoke to his adversary.

The cyborg's outer arms began to glow.  The light from the glow ran down his arms and collected until two balls of more blue energy were in his hands.  "How's this for warming up?" he said as he tossed the balls at Mega Man.

_Boy, these guys must have faced a lot of enemies if they're already throwing wise cracks at me.  Oh well, don't have time to think about that now._  Mega Man jumped over the balls and they attached themselves to the wall behind him.  "Ha, missed, smart aaaAAAAAAAAA!"  His insult was cut short as the two balls exploded behind him, sending him sprawling face-first onto the floor.  Mega Man pushed himself into a back-flip just after several more blue blobs of plasma drilled themselves into the floor.  Forming both arms into cannons, Mega Man let loose with his rapid fire cannons in the general direction of his opponent, but his opponent was no longer there.  This was proven when Mega Man was hoisted off the floor upside down as the central arm of the cyborg grabbed his leg and held him up to eye level.

"You are quite formidable, I now see how you were able to take Cirius down so quickly, quite strange for such a small machine.  However, by defeating you, I can now prove to my masters how much better I can serve them as a member of their personal guard.  Farewell, ancient machine."

"I wouldn't bet on it."  Mega Man replied, kicking into the arm that held him with his free foot.  The cyborg, not realizing the true strength of his target, was surprised at the force of the kick and dropped the blue bomber.  Not even bothering to right himself, Mega Man planted both hands onto the floor as he fell and kicked upwards at his assailant with both feet in a mighty hand-stand kick, which sent the cyborg flying thirty feet into the air.  Mega Man quickly stood up and let loose with a massive punch as the cyborg fell back to the ground, resulting in a new hole in the wall.  Mega Man calmly folded his arms.  "You know, too many of my enemies underestimate me because of my size, and let me tell you, when you're holding up half of the foundation of a collapsing fortress, I don't care how 'big' you are, you have to be pretty dang strong!"

The cyborg walked back through the hole that his body had made in the wall and once again looked over this strangely powerful, yet small machine.  "You are an enigma.  My masters would be greatly intrigued by a design such as yours, but this has gone on long enough."

"For once, you're on the right track.  Rush!  Super Adapter!"  Before he had even finished speaking the small red robot had warped in and transformed Mega Man into an all new force to be reckoned with.  "It's time I ended this."  Mega Man thrust out his arm and his fist detached, jetting towards the cyborg, who's own left arm sprouted a shield which he used to block the fist headed his way.  The force of the fist on the shield pushed the cyborg back several feet, but he was otherwise unhurt.

"I realize my mistake now, I will not underestimate you again."  The cyborg's central arm elongated while its fist became encased in a strange purple energy.  The arm stretched out towards Mega Man, slamming itself into the ground he had just vacated with enough force to put a good sized hole in the concrete.  The arm quickly tore itself free of the concrete and swung towards Mega Man like a whip.  The bioroid jumped over the arm and used his jet pack to hurl himself towards his foe, ready to deliver another punch.  The cyborg brought the shield up and again blocked the attack.  Mega Man jetted back as the cyborg retracted his arm, and they faced each other as they both pondered what to do next.

"Hmm… That shield of yours is quite durable.  It can block even my Super Adapter attack, but…"  the armor disengaged itself briefly to form into the more powerful Power Adapter, "Can it stop this attack?"  Mega Man charged towards the cyborg and let loose with his strongest attack, but the cyborg's shield held true, and though he was again sent through the wall, he was relatively undamaged.  Seemingly admiring the shield, Mega Man gave a shrill whistle.

"You realize now that all your attacks are futile.  It would be wise to give up now.  I would hate to have to send you to my masters too damaged to study."

"That's the way it's gonna be then.  I never give up so easily.  If I remember correctly, you're backs are quite unprotected.  I'll just have to hit you there."

"Very well, if you persist, then good luck to you."

"Well, it might actually be easier than you think."

The cyborg barely had time to register this before a sudden impact and a good shock coursed through his systems, knocking him to the floor.  With a snarl, the cyborg rose to face whatever it was that had dared to hit him.  For a moment, he saw nothing, but then a small blue bird fluttered into view.  The cyborg raised his central arm at the creature.  "Pest, you die…"

"Thanks, Beat."

Realizing the danger he had just placed himself in, the cyborg turned around just in time to see Mega Man place a massive red fist into his face.  Mega Man didn't even wait for the results, but followed up with several jabs that spun the cyborg around, then finished with a charged, fully powered uppercut into the cyborg's unprotected back.  The cyborg smashed into the celing, and fell heavily again to the floor.  Mega Man disengaged from Rush and gave the dog a pat on his head.  Rush then teleported out of the hangar, and Beat left as well.  "Do you yield yet?  Or should I try something else?"

"I never thought I'd have to use my main weapon, but you are formidable indeed."  The cyborg slowly stood up, and Mega Man happily noted that he was severely damaged.  Still he tensed, ready for anything more that his opponent could throw at him.   The cyborg sneered, "Little do you know of the power that I possess!  Feel it now, as it enfolds you!  **HEAT CANNON!**"  All three hands glowed briefly, then an immense beam of superheated energy leapt from them.  There was no time to get out of the way, the beam was too big to dodge.  Mega Man could only scream as he saw a flash of red, and then the beam engulfed him.


	11. My Patience is Wearing Thin

**Chapter 11**

**_What…  power.  Why didn't he use this attack sooner?… Waitaminute… I should be dead!_**

His power nearly drained, the cyborg finished his attack before he collapsed to the floor from exhaustion.  He glanced up, expecting to see nothing but the charred remains of the enemy, if even that, but a different sight met his eyes.  It was mostly white, elliptical in shape, with red trim and what appeared to be a visor in its center.  He didn't quite know what it was, until something else appeared behind it.

Protoman popped his head out from around his shield.  "Whoa Nellie, that was some attack, good thing it required a charge time."

Hearing his brother's voice, Mega Man opened his eyes, and it dawned on him that the red flash he had seen before he got roasted must have been his brother dashing in front of him to protect him with his shield.  "Protoman!  Boy am I glad to see you!"

The Red Raider turned to face his brother.  "No problem little bro, and by the way, thanks for winning me fifty bucks."

"Fifty bucks?  How?"

Protoman gestured towards the captured Wily, whom Mega Man noticed was no longer captured.  Bass stood next to his creator, looking a bit glum, but nevertheless, most of the cyborgs that had been guarding Wily were now on the floor, lifeless.  Another cyborg lunged at the black robot, but Bass merely backhanded him across the room, obviously not happy about something.

"Protoman, were you making bets with Bass again?"

                Protoman smirked, "Maybe."

"What was it this time?"

"Oh, I just claimed that you wouldn't be able to win without me interfering and Bass disagreed."

"Hey!"

Protoman grinned, "Well, you didn't do it, did you?"

Mega Man sighed, "Yeah, thank you for your support."

"Hey," Protoman patted his brother on the back, "What are brothers for?"

"Not much apparently, when did you guys get here?"

"We've actually been here, roughly five minutes now.  You and that big boy over there were too occupied to notice."

"Hey, Mega Man!"  Bass approached the brothers, obviously annoyed.  "Why can't you ever loose when it benefits me?" He said as he smacked another cyborg that tried to get too close.

"Oh, shut up, Bass, I don't want to hear it right now.  Anyway, what about our visitor."  The trio looked back at the fallen cyborg, who hadn't moved from where he fell.  His head was off the floor however, staring at them as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Im… im… possible!"

"Yeah, yeah, they all say that, anyway, your time is up."  Mega Man raised his cannon and charged.  The others followed suit, and all three of them released their shots at the same time.  The three comets of plasma converged on the fallen cyborg, who was powerless to do anything.  _At least… It was a good fight._

The cyborg took all three shots and his body seemed to shatter.  The battle, was finally won.

"Well, that's that, what shall we do now?"

No one had a chance to reply, because at that moment, the remaining cyborgs suddenly went berserk and begin unloading everything they had at the three robots, who quickly got out of the way.

"Woah, what happened to them!?  Bass asked.

"They've gone haywire!  They must have had some sort of mental link to the big guy, and we just severed it!"

"Well, in that case, I'd suggest we leave, _now!"_

"I'm with you, Protoman.  Where's Dr. Wily?"

"Bass, come on!  I can't wait around for you all day!"  Wily was screaming from a doorway at the other side of the room.  Bomb Man, Crystal Man and Spark Man were with him.  Mega Man and company hurried in their direction, wanting to get out as fast as possible as more cyborgs were entering the hangar by the minute.

"Hey, Wily, where's that shuttle you ordered, has it not arrived yet?"

"Shut up, Mega Man, they've been moved into this next bay, and most of them have been tampered with, if not destroyed by their leader's weapon.  I'm trying to fix one of the intact ones as we speak, but if you don't feel like waiting, feel free to get killed to pass the time."

As Mega Man ran into the next room, he got a good look of how much power the weapon actually had.  The beam had passed straight through many walls of the fortress, incinerating everything that it had come across until it had burst out the other side.  Mega Man gave a whistle.  "Wow, Protoman, I'm surprised that you're shield actually stopped that."

Protoman nodded, "Looking at this carnage, I'm actually surprised as well."

"Hey, dipwads!,  How about some help here!"  Bass and the three robot masters were trying their best to stem the tide of cyborgs that were flooding into the chamber.

"Keep them away long enough for me to get this thing fixed!"  Wily said, "They obviously didn't know what they were doing, and it shouldn't take too long."

"Alright, Bass, Protoman, there's something that I want to get, cover me!"  Without waiting another second, Mega Man hurled himself into the mass of cyborgs, back into the room where he had fought their leader.

"Mega Man, what on earth are you _doing!"  Protoman screamed, but Mega Man couldn't hear him over the noise of combat.  He merely kept moving until he found what he was looking for.  __I hope this works, He thought to himself.  Then he picked up the object and tried to concentrate as the cyborgs closed in all around him._

***

Shadow Man paced the floor back and forth, obviously upset about something.  He turned once again to Dr. Light.  "It's been too long.  They should have been back by now, we have to go out and find them!"

"Calm yourself, Shadow Man.  I doubt such a persistent person like your creator would go down so easily."  Dr. Cossack addressed the impatient robot.  "Nevertheless, we cannot wait here forever.  I agree with Shadow Man in that we must attempt to retrieve them."  He turned to Dr. Light.  "You're thoughts, Thomas?"

Dr. Light sighed, "Very well, Shadow Man, you and the rest of Wily's robots get ready to teleport out, I'll give you the co-ordinates in a minute.

Dr. Cossack cleared his throat and the others turned to him.  "I would like to send out my team as well, it would give them a good test run.  They could use the warm up, more so now since I had to shorten their start up time so that I could get here so quickly.  I need to make sure that they are functioning properly."

Dr. Light nodded.  "Alright Nathaniel, go ahead and send your group, but remember, we can't afford to lose any robot masters on rescue missions.  We'll need all the hands we can get when the real fighting starts."

"Do not worry, my friend, they will not risk themselves needlessly.  They're too smart for that."

"Let's hope so.  That goes for you too, Shadow Man," Dr. Light said turning to the other robot., "No heroics."

Shadow Man looked sullen.  "If Wily's in danger, I won't think twice about getting myself killed, however, you can rest assured that we robot masters were not built to die."

"Alright, here's the coordinates, they should put you about half a mile from Wily's fortress, just outside the barrier.  You'll have to walk from there."  Without another word, fourteen robot masters disappeared from the main lab in flashes of multi-colored light.

***

Protoman was nearly frantic, a very different emotion for him.  It had been nearly three minutes since he lost sight of his brother amidst the horde of cyborgs.  It seemed that nearly every cyborg in the fortress had shown up to take down the one who had killed their leader.  Protoman was blasting left and right, attempting to catch sight of his brother, but as time went by, his hope fell.

"That idiot went and got himself killed!"  Bass yelled beside him.  "You stole my greatest victory from me, I won't rest until every one of you lies dead at my feet!"  Though he screamed continuous insults at the cyborgs and proceeded to rip them apart with his bare hands, they merely kept coming.  Protoman was getting tired, and he was taking too many hits, even with his shield to protect them.  If they were going to get out of this one, he wasn't quite sure how.  They needed a miracle, some sort of Deus ex Machina, or maybe…

**"HEAT CANNON!!!"**

The brilliant blaze of pure heat washed over the cyborg army, cutting them down in swarms.  Seconds later, the room was nearly empty.  Mega Man collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily, not that he needed the air, but more out of a force of habit.

"Whoa, that really _does use a lot of energy… no wonder he didn't use it sooner," Mega Man said as Protoman ran to his brother, helping him up._

"Mega Man, are you ok?  You almost had me worried."

"Why Protoman, I didn't know you cared.  Anyway, I'm alright, just a bit drained.  That weapon really takes a lot out of you.  How's Wily with those shuttle repairs?"

"I'm done, now come on, I don't know if there are any more of them, but I don't want to be here to find out!"  The group piled into the shuttle, which coughed once and then started.  As the shuttle lifted a few feet off the ground, more cyborgs began to fill the room and attack the shuttle.  After another minute of waiting, Mega Man went up to the cockpit to see what was the matter.

"Uh, Doc, now would be a good time to get us out of here."

"I'm trying, you twit!  They've managed to jam the hangar door in place, it won't open!"

"Great, I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this again so soon.  I'll get the door, just don't leave without me!"

"If you keep stalling I will, get out there!"

As Mega Man jumped out of the shuttle, Spark Man followed him.  Mega Man turned to look at him quizzically.

"I'll keep them off you until you can get back on the shuttle, I saw how that thing drained you, so you might need some time."

Mega Man was quite speechless, after all, this was a robot master!  He didn't have much time to think about it though, and quickly turned to the hangar door as Spark Man let loose with a Spark Spread, giving a lot of cyborgs a good shock.  Mega Man gripped his arm and braced himself as he felt the heat from the weapon build up inside of him.  The barrel of his cannon began to glow a bright white, and then the beam once again lit up the room as it blazed towards the hangar bay door, blowing the entire thing off the side of the building.  Once again, Mega Man sagged to his knees as Protoman leapt from the shuttle and grabbed him.

Protoman yelled back at Spark Man as he ran towards the shuttle.  "Come on, we're getting out of here!"

"Don't worry about me, just make sure Wily gets away, I'll hold them off long enough for you to escape."  

Protoman looked at the robot master with a new admiration, but he quickly jumpped back into the shuttle, as it began to float out of the hangar bay door.

Spark Man faced the incoming force, he knew that this was his final stand, but he wouldn't be going alone.  _Wily wanted this fortress leveled, it's time these guys saw just exactly what I can do._  Running to the nearest socket, Spark Man jammed one of his arms into the wall and began to drain what little power that was still in the systems, slowly building up a massive charge in his own body.  When he had enough, he pulled his arm out and held them both before the oncoming swarm.  Electricity coursed between the prods, and Spark Man was doing all he could to hold the charge in.  _Maybe now I'll finally get some respect as a robot master._  He thought to himself.  In one final act, Spark Man executed his new ultimate attack.  Jamming his arms back into the socket, Spark Man released hundreds of billions of mega-volts into the fortress systems in one massive energy surge.

**"STATIC _SHOCKWAVE!"_**

***

A rumble passed through the fortress behind them, and Wily was accelerating the shuttle as fast as he could.

"Wily, what did he DO back there."  Mega Man asked.

"Roughly put, he just overloaded all my generators in one shot, in other words, if we don't get far enough away from here, we're going to get caught in the blast that is soon to follow."

And follow it did.  The fortress behind them suddenly erupted with a force nearly equal that of a large-scale military explosive.  As the aftermath of the explosion died down, the group inside the shuttle gave an exasperated sigh of relief.  The shuttle lurched once more, and began to descend.

"Wily, what happened?"

"What do you think is happening! The shuttle's losing power!  I must have missed something putting it back together."

Mega Man screamed back into the passenger compartment.  "Whoa everyone, brace for impact, we're going down!"  Seconds later, the shuttle smashed into the ground, not a quarter mile from the remains of the fortress that they had tried so desperately to escape.

As the dust settled, one side of the shuttle was blown open, and six battered figures stepped out of the crashed ship.

"Dr. Wily, are you alright?"  Crystal Man asked, giving his creator a helping hand.

"I'm perfectly fine," Wily snapped at the worried robot master, "Why don't you be useful for once and find out what the problem was!"

As Crystal Man walked around to the back of the shuttle, Mega Man turned to Dr. Wily.  "Of course you're fine, Wily.  With as many wreckage's as you've survived a simple shuttle crash couldn't possibly bring _you_ down."

"Bass, kill him."

As Bass moved towards Mega Man, Protoman decided it was time to interfere.  "Look people, now's not the time for petty squabbles."

"_Petty_!?  I've been fighting this guy for years!"  Mega Man said.

"Mega Man, now's not the time! At the moment we've got something more pressing over our heads."

Mega Man signed, "I know we do, but that doesn't mean that I can just up and forgive him.

"That's not quite what I meant," Protoman said as he pointed past Mega Man, who turned around to behold the most peculiar sight he'd ever seen.

"It's…. it's a _dragon!"  _And indeed, there was no other way to explain it.  Flying to the sky was a creature that looked everything like the legendary predator, excepting a few mechanical parts grafted to its skin like all the other cyborgs.  Mega Man also noticed something else about it.  "…and it's coming right for us!"

"Scatter!!"  Protoman yelled, and the group promptly split in several different directions as the beast, true to it's form, let loose with a breath of fire towards the shuttle, scarring the ground black.  Crystal Man, coming back around the shuttle to see what all the commotion was, got knocked down by one of the beasts limbs as it swooped by and began to come around for another pass.

"This is going to get old real fast," Mega Man said as he prepared his buster and began charging.

***

_Letsee, small group, roughly six figures…  That small blue figure must be Mega Man, and that must be Protoman next to him.  As he's the only human in the group, that must be the infamous Dr. Wily…  Wait, they must have seen something…. Oh, yeah, **that** would certainly be a startling sight._

"What do you see?"

"Well, it's them alright, and they're being attacked by something, I can only call it a dragon of some sort."

"Well, take it out."

"Roger… acquiring target lock now."  _Internal H.U.D. on.  Alright, acquire target… target locked, goodbye ugly!_

"Missile Spread!"

As the dragon came around for another pass, a dozen or so small missiles seemed to appear from nowhere.  The dragon was caught completely off guard as the missiles slammed into its side, taking out one of it's wings.  With a painful roar, it fell heavily to the ground, where it struggled to get back on its feet.

"Whoa, what was that?" Asked Bass as he turned in the general direction of the source of the missiles.

Protoman interrupted.  "No time to ponder that now, that guy's not down for the count yet.  Everyone ready?"

"Ready!"   The others said in unison, and once again all three simultaneously fired their charges towards the downed enemy, who took the blasts without flinching.

"Great, this guy's got some armor to him.  Bomb Man, you'll have to get in there and see what you can do.  We'll try to cover you."

"Right, on my way."  The four robot masters charged forward, ready to finish the job.  The dragon stood on it's four limbs, ready to meet them, but before the forces collided, another voice rang out.

"Artillery Cannon!"  A loud boom followed the voice as a large projectile tore into the foremost limb of the beast, once again spilling it onto the ground.  This time, all four of the charging robots turned towards the voice and beheld quite an awesome sight.  Fourteen robot masters stood on the hilltop, bristling with heavy weapons and bad attitudes.  Mega Man recognized the combined force of Wily's and Cossack's robot masters, but there were two new ones that he had never seen before.  The robot masters started down the hill towards the small group.  Shadow Man and Pharaoh Man, the apparent leaders of their respective groups, stepped forward.  Pharaoh Man spoke first.

"We've come to assist you, Mega Man."

"I can see that, and it appears that you've done quite a good job about it, though you _are _a little late."

"We would have gotten here sooner, but we were put down a bit further than estimated, and had to run the extra distance."

"Hmm, I see that you have some new additions to your team, care to introduce us?"

Pharaoh Man gestured to the two robots.  The first, about as tall as Bass, was colored two tones of green with various white trims.  His helmet had a single fin protruding from the center and his eyes were covered by a transparent yellow visor.  He had a large pack attached to his back, which in turn was attached to a large miniature missile launcher on his shoulder.  Various other launchers were also visible, but they retracted back into his armor as he stepped forward.  

"I take it, you were responsible for bringing down that thing."

"You'd be right with that assumption.  I'm Missile Man, Professional Demolisher Extrodinare!"  The green robot said with a smile as he shook Mega Man's hand.  Mega Man turned to the other robot.

This one was a bit more squat, and only about as tall as Mega Man.  He had a dark blue and gunmetal gray color scheme.  He didn't have a head, but rather a large gun protruded from where it should have been.  His eyes were located in what would best be described as his chest, and he had no mouth, but rather a large plate that covered where it probably would have been.  What looked to be some sort of large scale revolver was attached to his wrist, and he only had one hand.

"And you're the one that brought it down the second time?"

The robot nodded, "Name's Gun Man, master of the quick draw!"

"Oh really?"

"Well, not really, no, being that I never have to draw my gun, it's permanent.," he said, patting his gun arm.  "I just figured that adopting an old west personality might better suit my style, considering.  Ya know?"

Mega Man gave a wry smile.  Interesting indeed.  "Well," he said, turning back to the team leaders, "Thanks for the help guys.  Dr. Wily should be back by the shuttle, and if any of you have an energy capsule, I'd suggest giving it to Crystal Man, as he's taken a bit of a fall."

"Well, we'll get to that, but why don't be finish ugly over there." Missile Man said, gesturing to the dragon that had gotten back up and managed to steady itself on its three undamaged legs.  All heads turned towards the massive beast, and nineteen various weapons systems were systematically unleashed upon it.  When the dust settled, there was very little left.

Mega Man turned back to the group.  "Alright, let's go, I've had enough for a day, and I need a rest.  We'll go pick up Wily and then head for the edge of the barrier so we can teleport back to Dr. Light's lab.  I feel sorry for anything that tries to stop us, cause I am _not_ in a good mood right now."


	12. Lurking on High

**Chapter 12**

_Status…_

**Sleep**

_Energy Status…_

**Purge**

_Purge Process…_

**98%**

**…**

**…**

**…**

**Purge Complete.****  Recommend Extended 30 minute Rest Cycle. **

_Unnecessary.___

**End Rest Cycle?**

_Affirmative.___

**Initiate Reactivation Sequence?**

_Affirmative.___

**Reactivation Sequence begun.****  Enter Rest Cycle Override code.**

_****_

**Code Acknowledged.  Good Morning, Mega Man.**

***

Mega Man walked into the lab, quickly scanning the area and taking note of the seven occupants.  Wily, Light, and Cossack were bustling about the room, working on various figures and stratagems, trying to get a bead on the origin of the cyborgs.  Electric Man and Pharaoh Man were busy trading glares with Shadow Man, as if daring him to do something.  Roll was busy enough organizing the papers and files the three scientists kept tossing everywhere while they worked.  She glanced up as he walked in and turned towards him.

"Morning, Rock," she said, planting a small peck on his cheek.  "Can I get you anything?"

"Nah, that's alright, Roll.  It looks like you've got your hands full as it is."

"Well," she replied, "you know how it is.  Having one genius in the house is bad enough.  Having two geniuses and a mad scientist in the lab," Wily cleared his throat and glared at them, and Dr. Light gave a slight reproachful look, "…is enough to keep even me on my toes."

"Yeah, and it takes a lot to keep my little sister busy."  Mega Man walked over to his creator.

Dr. Light didn't even look up from his work.  "You're up early."

"Well, the purge came up clean, so it doesn't look like they tried to infect me with anything.  I just thought, you know, considering the circumstances, I didn't need to sleep any longer than was necessary."

"Well, you're the first one up.  Protoman was reluctant to go into stasis, so he started a bit later than you.  He should be done in about another 15 minutes."  Dr. Light rolled his eyes, "Don't even get me started on the fight Bass put up."

Mega Man chuckled, "Huh, I'm not surprised.  Well, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not right now.  None of the cyborgs have made any public appearances since we recovered LeeLann.  The public thinks it was just another of Wily's robots, since none of them were there to see Shadow Man's part in the whole thing.  Right now we're merely trying to get through the jamming that these things have implemented on our satellites.  We can't find anything past the atmosphere.  Why don't you go talk to your brothers.  You never got the chance to when you got home."  Roll had immediately told the news to Mega Man when he had gotten back from Wily's fortress, but after the initial shock of the news and their short, joyful reunion Dr. Light had insisted that he be sent into stasis to make sure the cyborgs hadn't tried to infect the blue bomber with any viruses or reprogramming charges.  "Bomb Man's reprogramming finished about forty-five minutes ago.  Take your sister with you.  She could use the break."

***

The moment Mega Man walked into the room he was tackled by six over-eager robots, one of them quite large.  "Ooof… hey, c'mon guys," he said, hoisting them all onto his shoulders.

"Woah,"  Guts Man exclaimed as he was tossed off his brother, "You've gotten stronger little bro.  Last I knew, you could only lift four of us at a time, or three if I was one of them."

"You can blame that on your copy.  It seems that the Super Arm that I acquired when I defeated him seemed to have integrated with my systems, pity it didn't work with the rest of them."

"Yeah?  Well let's see how your new systems compete with the original strong-bot!"  With a lunge the huge robot grabbed at his smaller brother.  A struggle of titanic proportions raged around the room while the rest of the original robot masters and Roll cheered the contestants on.  The fight only stopped when Dr. Light yelled at them to knock it off over the intercom.  Guts Man has slowly been gaining the upper hand at the time.  Only Mega Man's smaller size and quickness was able to keep him out of serious trouble.

"It seems you're still the strongest Guts, but you could do with a few lessons in quickness."

"The big, slow brute.  That's me!" Guts Man said with a grin.

"Doesn't mean I'd like to get caught in his grip," Cut Man added as the Robot Masters once again gathered at the center of the room.

"Well, of course _you_ wouldn't, Cut Man," Mega Man said.  "After all, I had to use Guts Man's weapon to beat you."

"Um… yeah, about that…"  Cut Man said, slowly bowing his head.  The other robot masters followed suit.

"What… what's wrong guys?" Mega Man asked.

Fire Man decided to break the silence that followed his brother's question.  "Rock, we were talking while you slept, and we wanted to tell you something.  We want to thank you for being strong when our strength failed us."

"What are you talking about, guys?"  Mega Man was thoroughly puzzled now.

"If you hadn't resisted Wily's reprogramming attempts, he would have taken the world with our help long ago," Elec Man explained.  "We want to thank you for rising to the challenge and stopping us, even if it wasn't really us you were fighting.  You didn't know that, and we realize that it must have been very difficult for you.  We also wanted to ask for your forgiveness for being weak when we should have been strongest."

Mega Man finally understood the fullness of what his brothers were telling him, and it dawned on him that Dr. Light had indeed given his brothers a proper sense of integrity and ethics that many humans could envy.  "Guys, look at me."  The masters raised their heads.  "The only reason that Roll and I weren't turned by Wily's reprogramming was because he didn't think of us as threats.  He didn't try to reprogram me with half the effort he put into the rest of you.  I don't blame you for falling into Wily's scheme, and I never will.  You guys don't even realize the joy that I feel when I realize that you are the brothers that I have always known, and that it wasn't you who I had to fight.  You ask me for forgiveness, but I can only tell you that there's nothing to forgive.  You are my brothers, and you will always be my family, and for the first time, the robots of Dr. Light will fight together for the betterment of the world, as they were once designed to do!"

As Mega Man spoke, the downcast looks on the faces of the robot masters slowly turned to looks of joy, and when he finished, Guts Man looked like he was about to cry, if he could have.  Finally, Ice Man spoke up and shouted as loud has his squeaky voice would allow him to.

"Let's hear it for Mega Man!  The best robot in the world!"

***

In the shadows of the room, one lone robot looked on unnoticed as the group in the center of the room gave hearty cries in honor of their brother.  In spite of himself, Protoman had to grin at the scene before him.  He knew that he would never be applauded like his younger brother.  In fact, many people in the world still spoke his name with anger and fear, remembering only the scene of the Dark Man copy of him leading a band of robot masters in world conquest during the Fifth Robot Rebellion.  Still, he didn't mind.  He preferred being reclusive and helping only in the background, it was how he worked, wasn't it?  Protoman wasn't so sure anymore.  Lately he had been doubting his methods, and he wondered if he should be taking a more active role with his little brother in defending the world.  Slowly his thoughts turned to the memories of another time and place, when he had first disappeared from Dr. Light's lab.  He had never told anybody the things that he had witnessed as he tried to find his way back to his creator, but he knew that they had changed him forever in a manner that many of this world wouldn't think possible for a robot.

_No, not a robot.  I'm a bioroid now, just like Mega Man, and I can make my own decisions._  Protoman's thoughts returned to the group before him, and silently he offered his little brother a short salute and a smile.  _Live it up little bro.  After all, you've earned it, more than any one else, you've earned it._

_***_

**_Computer… Status Update.  Report all details during the past ten Earth standard "hours"._**

Affirmative, Generating Report.  Records indicate three major occurrences within given time frame.

**_Report instances in chronological order._**__****

Affirmative.  

Case 1:  Subject –LeeLann

                Recovery objective given to Personal Guard 1st Class Cirius.

Mission Outcome: Failure.  

Cirius reports two figures interfered.

Figure 1:  Unknown.  Best Estimate [99.5%]- Designation: Mega Man? 

Figure 2:  Previously Encountered- Designation: Shadow Man.

**_Open Image: Figure 1_**

Opening…

**_So this is our first look at this world's famous hero.  He must be formidable indeed if he was able to overcome Cirius.  Computer, next occurrence._**

Affirmative.

Case 2: Subject- Resupply

                Less 6.25 Kar: Convoy Alpha departing Central Headquarters.  

Less 5.95 Kar: Contact Lost en-route.  

Less 5.90 Kar: Assault Team Tau dispatched to inspect.  Encoded signal feed intercepted near point of lost contact.  Signal origin: Intraspace Spycomm 2134.  

Less 5.82 Kar: Contact with Spycomm lost.

Less 5.60 Kar: Assault Team reports; Enemy Engaged.

Less 5.58 Kar: Contact with Assault Team lost.

Mission Outcome: Failure?

Assumption: Convoy Alpha/Assault Team Tau eliminated.

**_Computer, decrypt signal feed received from I.S. 2134._**

Acknowledged.  Decrypting…

Video feed decrypted.  Play?

**_Yes._**

Playing…  Feed displays force possibly responsible for elimination of Convoy Alpha/Assault Team Tau.  

Team leader: subject 19756.  Uploading subject schematics.

**_Duo…  You should not have interfered.  Knowing you, you're probably on your way here right now, trying to find out what's going on.  Unfortunately, I can't have you reporting this operation to our enemies.  I'll take care of you this time.  Still, you're team has already caused me trouble by delaying my reinforcements and supplies.    Computer, final occurrence._**

Affirmative.

Case 3: Subject- Structure Assault/Data Recovery.

                Strike force, under command of Combat Commander Eether, sent to retrieve enemy acquired data and destroy enemy structure.

Mission Outcome:  Partial Success.

                Enemy team escaped fortress with data.  Fortress destroyed (self destruct?).

Casualties: Heavy- 98% of force destroyed.

    Enemy Figures 3 and 6 destroyed.

Figure 1: Unknown.  Previously Encountered.  Best Estimate [99.9%]- Designation: Mega Man

Figure 2: Previously Encountered- Designation: Doctor Albert William Wily

Figure 3: Previously Encountered- Designation: Spark Man

Figure 4: Previously Encountered- Designation: Bomb Man

Figure 5: Previously Encountered- Designation: Crystal Man

Figure 6: Unknown.  Best Estimate [85%]- Designation: Yellow Devil?

Figure 7: Unknown.  Best Estimate [67%]-Designation: Protoman?

Figure 8: Unknown.  Previously Encountered.  Best Estimate [96%]- Designation: Bass? 

**_What is the condition of Combat Commander Eether?_**

Unsure.  Indications of main weapon utilization subsequent to estimated destruction of Eether.

**_Video?_****__**

Affirmative.  Play feed?

**_Yes._**

Playing…  Feed displays destruction of Commander Eether and his weapon discharge originating from previously encountered figure (Mega Man?).

**_Hmmm…_****_ It appears that this 'Mega Man' is very strong indeed, and those creatures who assist him, he uses them with excellent efficiency.  Apparently he is also able to emulate the attacks of his defeated foes.  These other two share similar traits with him.  They will prove trouble, but they are vastly inferior to my soldiers.  Like all the others, they will fall.  Computer, display live video feed.  Target: Earth.  Document all data concerning Subject: Mega Man for future reference._**

Affirmative.  Feed enabled.

**_These puny humans don't even realize the gem that they are sitting on.  They squander their planet and have no idea that many civilizations would slaughter them for the resources their planet and its surrounding cousins contain.  Unfortunately for them, I intend to do just that._**


	13. Teaming Up

**Chapter 13**

"No, blasted machine!  Work!  WORK!!!  I will not be defeated again!  No!"  A resounding boom echoed through the dark room, and with a final shudder Wily knew that his machine was finished, and once more, it was time for him to beg for his life.  When the dust settled, Wily was already in motion, spouting words that he had repeated before, but this time was different.

Without wasting any time, Mega Man charged forward and grabbed Wily by his lab coat, hoisting him into the air, and pulling the self-destruct button he knew was there out of Wily's pocket.  "I'm through playing games, Wily, and I'm not going to let you escape this time.  You've caused enough damage to this world, and so help me I will see you pay for your crimes once and for all."

Mega Man lowered Wily to eye level and suddenly, Wily feared for his life, which was something that he did not often do.  It was at that time that several police guards ran into the room, weapons ready.  When they realized that the situation was under control, one pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his belt and started toward the pair in the middle of the room.  For a final moment, Mega Man glared at Wily.

"I hope you sit in your cell and rot."

As Wily was dragged from the room, he finally got the courage to shout back.  "I'll never give up Mega Man, one day, I'll be free again, and I swear that I'll win.  _Do you hear me Mega Man!  I WILL WIN!!!!!"_

Wily woke with a start, and realized he'd broken out in a cold sweat.  As soon as it dawned on him that he'd been dreaming, he sighed.  The end of the Sixth Robot Rebellion was not a memory that he had enjoyed, though he had to admit that the end of the seventh was most unnerving.  As he sat, breathing heavily in the dark room, it became apparent that he wasn't alone.

"You know Wily, the more I'm around you, the more I realize that you really are human.  I think I'd better avoid you from now on.  I'm afraid I'm getting attached."

"How did you get in here, Protoman?"

"Let's just say that your ninja in the hallway could learn a few things about espionage."  Protoman smirked.

"Yeah?  Well you could use a few lessons on subtlety yourself."

Protoman tilted his head and calmly looked over his shoulder.  Shadow Man was there, a Shadow Blade pressed against the back of Protoman's neck.

"I'm impressed, not many have the skill to surprise me like that.  I never thought a robot master would be among them.  Anyway," Protoman turned back to Wily, "Dr. Light wants you in the lab, says he's come across something that he thinks you should look at.  After you're done you can get back to your nightmares.  It's nice to know that my little brother can give you a few."  Protoman looked over his shoulder again.  "Oh, and Shadow Man?"

Faster than Wily could see, Protoman had spun around, whipped his shield out, and sent the hapless robot master into the nearest wall.  Protoman calmly re-sheathed his shield, and began to walk out of the room.  "…I hate being surprised."

***

"Well, if it weren't for the fact that the jamming is still in effect, I'd think that they had already left."  Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were leaning over a console in the lab, studying the radar.  "It's been nearly a week since we've seen anything of them.  We've managed to lighten the effects of the jamming somewhat.  We've managed to detect a low orbiting object every half hour or so.  It's should be appearing any moment now… there it is."

A faint red blip had appeared on the screen, in low orbit over the earth.  "It will be visible for about forty five seconds.  We don't think they realize that we can see them, because we've been tracking them for the past few hours.  Nathaniel and I have been able to calculate its orbit trajectory, and we've confirmed it every time it becomes visible again."

"Interesting, but that still doesn't explain why you had to wake me up."

"We want you to help us plan an insertion strike.  We've no doubt anymore that these being are hostile, and we don't think that they'd expect something like this."

"I still think we should wait until we know more before we attempt something like this." Dr. Cossack interrupted.

"Nathan, if we wait until we know more, it might be too late.  We have to strike whenever we can find the chance."

"Well, what _do_ we know about their ship capabilities?"  Wily asked.

"Well, Leelann has given us all the information she could.  We do know that they have anti-energy barriers similar to our own teleportation barriers.  We tried beaming a small laser beacon onto this ship here, but the beacon didn't make it onboard, though we did manage to get it attached to their hull.  I don't think they've noticed yet."

"Let's hope not, Thomas, right now we could use the element of surprise."  Dr. Cossack turned back to the console he had been working on.  "I've an idea on how we can get onboard the ship.  If we can't beam directly into the ship, then we can give our robots magnetic boots and thruster packs and beam them as close to the surface of the ship as possible.  They might then be able to force their way onto the ship from there."

"…and in doing so we alert whatever armada they've got up there that we're on one of their own ships.  You don't possibly think that they only have one up there do you?  For all we know, they'd rather eliminate one ship to kill us, or they'll send any and all of their soldiers onboard to make sure we don't get off.  Very brilliant, Nathaniel."

"Always the pessimist, Albert?  If you ever bothered to look up once in a while, you might actually accomplish something!  Thomas and I are already addressing that issue.  Study of the data that you brought back from your fortress has given us quite a bit of knowledge of these invaders.  We already know that their automatons transmit status updates every so often.  The laser beacon we attached to their hull has detected similar transmissions from the ship itself, which leads us to believe that the ship is run through automation.  We've begun developing a small object that, when attached to the ship, will jam all outbound communications, and will then use the information gained by the beacon to mimic the automated status transmissions, telling the other ships that nothing is wrong.  The enemy will never even know we were there.

***

"At least not until that ship goes critical."  Hours later, Mega Man, Bass, and the other robot masters were being briefed on their mission objectives.  It was merely a question of which team will be sent.  "I still don't see why we all shouldn't just beam aboard and take the ship by storm, Dr. Light."

"Mega Man, we need someone on earth in case something goes wrong.  If we were all to attack the ship, and the jamming device failed, they might just decide to destroy the ship and be rid of us all, or maybe they decide to attack the planet while we're up there.  We need to make sure Earth has at least some defense."  It was at this point that Dr. Wily and Dr. Cossack walked up to the two.

"All the teams have been briefed, Thomas, now we need to decide who is going."  The three scientists looked over the three groups of eager robots.  Dr. Light heard Dr. Cossack chuckle next to him.

"What is it?"  He asked his colleague.

"I'm merely amused by the… what is the word… irony of the fact that we all have exactly eight robots to our name."

"Huh?"  Dr. Light quickly counted the robots, and, if he included Protoman, who was absent at the moment, realized Nathan was right.  "Why… I hadn't noticed that.  Interesting indeed."

"If you are both through chatting, I suggest we start deciding."  Dr. Wily looked annoyed.

"Very well, Wily.  I was about to suggest that Dr. Cossack's team take this one.  The invaders have not yet met them, and wouldn't know all their abilities.  That might give them an edge.  Dr. Light look over at Dr. Cossack.  "What do you think, Nathaniel?"

"By all means," Dr. Cossack replied, "My team would be honored.  I do have one request though.  As it is plainly evident that none of my creations are quite up to par with Mega Man, Protoman, and Bass, I was wondering if I could have Protoman join my team for this operation."

"Dr. Light looked skeptical.  "You forget, Nathaniel, that is something you'll have to take up with him.  I cannot control Protoman as you would your creations.  Being that he's not here right now, I'm not sure we have the time to go find him."

"I'll go, Dr. Light," Protoman said as he walked into the room."  I may not always like being in the front row of these things, but I'm not about to let my world be completely destroyed.  I've grown rather fond of it the way it is. Still, I wouldn't want to leave my creator short-handed." He turned to Dr. Cossack.

Cossack got the message.  "I understand.  I will leave Skull Man under Dr. Light's direction.

"Fair enough, shall we get started then?"  Protoman turned to the other members of his new group, who murmured in agreement, but another voice spoke up.

"Dr. Light, I would like to join your team to assault one of my master's ships." Leelann had entered the room, and was walking towards the group.  I have given you all the information that I could remember.  When I broke free of my master's control, most of the things which I knew concerning their tactics and motives were lost to me, but I yet retain much of the knowledge to access that information should I be given a direct connection to the databanks.  I could also assist your team should they be injured.  I do not wish to sit idle while my masters destroy another world."

Everyone in the room was a bit speechless.  It was Protoman who broke the silence.  "I'm not so sure this is a good idea, Dr. Light.  Sure, she might be able to heal us, but she could also get in the way and cause more injuries than it may be worth, plus, she could be doing this just to lead us into a trap.  I think we should keep her under strict surveillance until…"

A blue flash stopped Protoman's words as the ground near his feet erupted in a small shower of rubble.  Leelann glared at Protoman as she closed her palm, from which the flash had originated.  "I may be a simple healer, but even I was trained in the art of combat.  You must trust me now.  If I were to betray you, your enemies would already have come to destroy this place.  I wish to help, and if I can not go with you, then I will find another way to fight elsewhere, it is your decision." 

Protoman turned to Dr. Light, who looked at him quizzically, and then to Mega Man, who could only shrug.  Finally, he let out a sigh.  "Alright," he said, "let's get moving."

***

A half-hour later, the team was ready to go, and waiting for the next time the ship they were boarding would show itself on the radar.  

"Be careful up there, bro."  Mega Man said to his brother.  "If you go, no one will be around to pull my butt out of the heater."

"I wouldn't worry too much.  I'm not going to go out all that easily, besides, you do just fine on your own."

At that moment, Roll walked into the room, carrying something in her hands.  She approached Protoman and handed the object to him.

"Here, Protoman, I wanted you to take this.  I know I don't usually let her fight, but I thought that you might need her.  Just take care of her, ok?"

Protoman looked down at the object his sister had given him. "Roll, this is Tango's beacon, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah," Roll sighed.  "She's a stubborn little kitty.  She knows something really big is happening, and she wants to be a part of it."

"Heh, don't worry, Roll.  I doubt I'll even use her, but you can rest assured that I won't let anything happen to her… and, thanks."

Roll smiled and walked out of the room, just as Cut Man ran into it.  "Mega Man, Dr. Light needs you in the control room, something's come up, and it looks like we'll all be fighting today."

Just then Dr. Cossack barked at the assault team.  "Be ready!  You will launch in one minute, make sure all your teleportation coordinates are set properly."

Mega Man turned to his brother.  "No rest for the weary.  Good luck, Bro, and take care."

"From the sounds of things you could use some luck yourself, watch your butt out there."  Protoman grinned at his brother, and gave him a high-five.  Mega Man ran out of the room to the control center. Protman looked at his countdown timer.  _Thirty seconds and counting.  This is gonna be interesting._

***

"What's going on Dr. Light?"  Mega Man asked as he ran into the control room of the scientist's facility, followed closely by Cut Man.

"It seems that the aliens are no longer afraid to show themselves now.  They're assaulting the Global Defense Headquarters in Washington.  Their tactics were ingenious.  They had taken half the facility before they were even noticed, so details are sketchy for the moment."

"Hmm… that's not the same tactic they used on Wily's fortress, which was just to barge in, guns blazing.  Maybe there's been a change in command?"

"Or, maybe they realized that Wily was already secluded from the rest of the world to the point that they knew he wouldn't alert the planet.  They didn't factor the robot master's intelligence though.  Anyway, I want you to take your team there immediately.  Skull Man will be with you in exchange for Protoman."  Dr. Light turned to a console and brought up a map of the facility.  "Your landing point should be somewhere around here, on the outer grounds.  The nearest part of the building is supposedly under enemy control.  At this point here," he gestured to a spot near the final defense ring of the building, "There was report of a heavy engagement.  A group of military grade Guard Joes and some Sniper Joes were trying to enter through the back door and catch the enemy unaware, but got held down before they could even get in.  You're to rendezvous with any survivors and help them in.  Remember, every group of military robots are under the command of at least three human officers.  So far, from what I've gathered, humans are either being killed, or taken prisoner."

Something Leelann had said crossed Mega Man's mind.  "I can only guess what they're planning to do with them."

That is why you must protect or rescue any humans you come across, we can't allow them to fall into enemy hands.  Besides, even if they are humans, they are military, and they may be able to provide assistance or give you information.  If you need heavier weaponry, you can find the Armory here, but you can bet it will be heavily guarded.  Anyway, once you get in, proceed to these three points," Dr. Light marked three rooms in various places on the map.  "They are the Communications room, the Generator room, and the Control room respectively.  Currently, worldwide communications are down.  This was apparently a two-pronged attack, but Dr. Wily's team will be dealing with that issue."

"Why is the communication room so important then, if it doesn't matter at the moment anyway?"

"Because the enemy had taken several high-ranking military personnel hostage.  If they are taken from the building, you can bet that any information they have will become common knowledge."

"Gotcha, doctor.  What about the Generator room?"

"The enemy is using the emergency generator to keep the facility's computers operational, so they can gain information, and maybe figure out a way to get through our virus protection more quickly by studying it closer.  Should you get to the generator room, you are to disable the emergency generator.  That should slow them down.  If all else fails, you _must get to the control room.  There's information in there that I'm sure __I'm not even aware of, and I don't think I need to tell you how vital it may be."_

"You got it Dr. Light, I won't let you down."

"Don't forget, if you run into any disabled or wandering Joes, you have the authority to command them, as usual."

"You know, I've never been able to use that authority, mostly because Wily's usually reprogrammed them all by the time I get there."  

"Well, this might be your chance.  I've already got the coordinates set into your teleporter, get back to the others and get going.  If anyone gets too damaged, send them back, we can't afford permanent losses."

"Ok. Just keep an eye out for yourself Dr. Light.  I don't want them attacking you while we're all away.  If something comes up, call me immediately."

"Don't worry, Mega Man, I'll be fine, just get out there and make sure you come back."


	14. Surprise!

**Author's Notes:  I just realized that my first few chapters were kinda messed up.  I just spent a lot of time getting everything reorganized, but I don't see why I should do this when it seems no one is bothering to read this.  So please, if you're reading this, leave a review, remember, it takes me a lot longer to write this than it takes for you to read it ****J****.**

**Chapter 14**

"Wow, it looks like they've got half of a command fleet here!"

"No kidding, this is no small operation.  What do you think, boss?"

Hidden in the shadows of the moon Phobos, Duo, Kael, Trace, and Grid were overlooking the contingent of large space structures orbiting the third planet of the system.  Duo wasn't sure what to make of it.

"I can't really tell.  It indeed looks like an invasion force; there's one Command class Starbase, two orbital assembly factories, twelve containment satellites and at least one Worldscreen class station, as well as several smaller picket vessels.  Judging by the position of their ships, the enemy is still in the initial stages of invasion.

"How do you figure that, sir?"  Kael asked, puzzled.

"Simple deduction," Grid piped in.  "The orbital factories are still in high orbit, being protected by the other structures, which means they aren't being used yet.  On the other hand, the Worldscreen station has a lower orbit than even the satellites, which means that they don't want this world to know what exactly is assaulting them, and what kind of force is being used.  Worldscreen class stations are known to generate a field around a planet that can effectively block most known means of observation, but the field can only be established directly from the station itself, which means that the lower the orbit of the craft, the closer the cloakshield covers the planet.  Also, if you notice the debris surrounding the planet, it seems that they've already destroyed what appear to be several communications satellites and possibly even a few primitive stations.

Kael was still puzzled.  "But they must have had plenty of time to mount an offensive before now, why would they still be in preparations stages, they should have attacked by now.  It doesn't make sense."

"Their delayed attack could be for any number of reasons," Grid explained, "but four such reasons come most readily to mind.  First, that the planet in question is in such a primitive state as to have not yet developed even basic mechanical and electrical technology.  Second, the planet in question is a rare case of a race that has mastered organic technology.  Third, the planet in question has extremely advanced protective software, with enough strength to amount a successful ground defense.  Four, the planet in question is advanced to a state far beyond our own, but the enemy still thinks it is possible to overcome, so they are awaiting reinforcement."

"Which would you think is the most probable, Grid?" Duo asked.

"I believe sir, that the first reason can be ruled out by the mere presence of the Worldscreen.  Also, if you look closely enough at the debris orbiting the planet from the destroyed indigenous structures, you can note that it is definitely metallic in nature, which more than likely eliminates the second explanation.  Furthermore, the remains do seem fairly advanced, but they are nowhere near our own.  I would suggest the third reason as being the most probable."

Trace and Kael stared at Grid incredulously.  "You can tell all that just by glancing at a few charred remains from this distance?"

"Hey, it's a specialized field," Grid shrugged.  "Anyway, what do you think, sir?" 

"I agree," Duo said, "Which means the enemy is still attempting to break through this world's protective software, or they are waiting for reinforcements that will take a bit longer than they think."

"Courtesy of us." Trace put in.

"Well, it looks like they finished waiting just a few moments ago." Grid said.  "Look sir, two C-Class troop shuttles appear to be returning to that picket ship, which means two assault divisions have just been deposited on the planet's surface."

"What should be our course of action, sir?"  Trace asked, itching to get into the fray.

Duo once again looked over the scene.  "They seem to be following their standard invasion procedure.  They're using the Worldscreen station to hide their numbers while they systematically disrupt the orbital communication platforms.  If they can't infect the world's technology, then they'll attempt to send the local forces into chaos by disabling global communication.  As the orbital satellites are already gone, we can only assume that those teams have been sent to eliminate any ground based global communication facilities, to effectively keep the race from mounting an organized defense."  Duo paused for another moment.  "The enemy obviously doesn't know we're here, so by going straight to the planet, we lose the element of surprise.  The natives will have to defend their own planet for the moment, but we can, at the very least, let them know what they're up against.  We'll attack the Worldscreen station."

"But sir, it _does_ have the lowest orbit, doesn't that mean having to go through the rest of the fleet to get to it?" Kael asked.

"Grid, what do you suggest?"  Duo asked his engineer and tactician.

"Well, what Kael said is true, but because it has the lowest orbit, that also means it has the fastest orbit, which puts it out of synch of the rest of the fleet."  Grid pulled out a small cube from one of his chest compartments, and produced a small holographic image of the planet and the surrounding fleet. "Soon though, that orbit will put the planet between the station and the rest of the fleet.  If we go in passively, we may be able to get onto the station without being noticed.  Of course, once we get_ on the station, we'll be announcing our presence rather loudly."_

"That can't be helped.  All right, let's get ready, we don't have much time.

***

The scene that stood before them was surprisingly dull.  It was as if they had dropped right into the middle of a hospital hallway on a slow day, that is, until you saw the big hole in the wall, and more stars than you could count on the other side.  Protoman glanced around the hallway.  So far they had gone unchallenged.  Most of the cyborgs that had been in the hall had been sucked out into space when they had created the hole, due to the rapid change in pressure.  The hole now seemed sealed by some sort of energy membrane, but the group had managed to get inside.  Protoman couldn't hear any alarms going off, _but that doesn't mean that they aren't there, _he thought to himself.  

The group discarded their thruster packs, as well as the sealed suit that Dr. Light had given to Leelann, which they had then promptly destroyed, the items were no longer necessary.  Protoman turned to his troops to address them.

"OK, boys.  At this point we can only hope that the beacon the good scientists at home sent up to declare our arrival is working properly.  Still, just because the rest of the fleet doesn't know what's going on, you can bet that _this ship knows we're here.  Our best bet for the moment is to find a terminal, hopefully we'll be able to get the technical blueprints for the ship, and figure out what to do from there." Protoman pulled out his shield.  "I'll take point.  Pharaoh Man, you bring up the rear."  He turned to Leelann.  "Any idea which direction we should go?"_

She could only shake her head. "No, the hallways are too generic.  I would need to find a more unique room to understand my position on the ship."

"Fine, we'll go in this direction," Protoman said, gesturing down the right side of the hallway.  "Leelann, you're up front, with me."  The group proceeded down the hall, and were able to go through several other hallways without opposition.  They soon entered a large, seemingly deserted room that was filled with various wires and pipelines.  Protoman threw a questioning glance at Leelann.  "Anything here that we might be able to tap into?"  He asked.

The girl studied the room carefully, "No, these are only power conduits for non-essential functions.  The vital areas of the station each have their own power source."  

Protoman began to think that something was amiss. "Leelann, what is standard procedure for your people in case they are boarded?"

"I'm no longer positive when it comes to my people anymore, but I seem to remember that most of the station's troops are sent to the vital areas of the ship, in order to make sure that the function of the vessel remains undisturbed for as long as possible.  If the boarders become too much of a nuisance, then several small patrols will be dispatched to engage the intruders, if only to slow them down and lessen their strength if possible."

"Hmm… so if we want to find anything important, we'll just have to wander around until we find a big group of bad guys, I see."  Protoman paused for a moment, rolling an idea around in his head.  "Or maybe, would could get them to lead us in the right direction.  Pharaoh Man!"  Protoman turned to the seven robot masters, "Start charging your Pharaoh Shot, and stand over there.  Bright Man, go stand in the middle of the room and ready your Flash Stopper.  Ring Man, you guard that door over there, stand about thirty feet to the side of it, up against the wall.  Dust Man, same position for that door on the other wall.  Leelann and I will guard this one here.  If anything enters the room, Bright Man'll flash 'em, and Pharaoh Man will let 'em have it with a charged up Pharaoh Shot.  If more than one group comes in, you are to guard your respective doors and hold them off until we join in to help.  Drill Man, Missile Man, and Gun Man, if they attack, help fight 'em off, but for the moment," Protoman gestured to the myriad of wires and conduits, "Have a field day."

***

Bass kicked at the nearest cyborg body on the floor. _Hmph__… so much for the welcoming party.__  I can't believe I'm doing this.  Running chores for Wily so he can help save the world.  There's irony for you.  The other robot masters gathered behind him as he mulled his thoughts.  Finally, after a few moments, he turned to them._

"What are you still doing here?  Go finish the mission."

The robot masters glanced at each other.  "I thought the plan was to stay together," Metal Man said.

"Yeah?  Well I've got my own plans, and they don't involve you.  So go ahead and rescue the world, I've got a score to settle."  Bass dashed off, leaving the hapless robot masters behind.  _Every group has a leader, _He thought,_ I'm just going to have to find him and blow his head off._

***

Shadow Man watched as Bass sped away from the group.  If he were human, he would have given a sigh of exasperation.  "Sometimes I wonder why Wily even bothered to make him."

"Yeah, we should have taken him out when we had the chance," Slash Man spoke up from behind.  "So what do we do now?"

"Finish the mission, I suppose.  We have our instructions, so let's get on with it.  Currently, the local Guard Joes won't fire on us, but we don't have the authority to command them, we'll just have to convince the team leaders that we're on their side for once."

"Oh… yeah, that's gonna be easy.  I doubt we'll run into any in the first place, so let's go."

The team of robot masters moved down the nearest hallway.  They knew where they were headed, and what they had to do, and they carried out their orders in the manner of a professional SWAT Team.  Even though they fought as individuals on a regular basis, they still had the programming to work with each other under any circumstances.  Shadow Man darted ahead, peeking around corners and through doorways to make sure the way was clear.  Slash Man took the high road, leaping up to the ceiling and using his claws to crawl around nearly as easily as he would on the ground, looking to surprise any potential ambushers.  Freeze Man covered their tracks, erasing their heat signatures to make sure that no heat sensors could detect their numbers.  Occasionally he would seal the entire hallway or any doorway they passed through with ice, to keep anyone that may be following them from being able to sneak up.  They would have to smash the ice, and that would instantly alert the team.  Tomahawk Man was a master tracker, able to tell if anything had walked by recently on a concrete floor.  He led them down the least trailed paths, to avoid unnecessary combat.  Crash Man, Metal Man and Crystal Man followed along, waiting until they were needed.  

They were able to get more than halfway to the Communications center without incident when they heard the sounds of battle.  Proceeding carefully, they moved towards the sound.  They came upon a catwalk overlooking a large room.  In the room below, a firefight was taking place, as several Guard Joes, one Sniper Joe and two humans engaged a group of cyborgs.  The Guard Joes and humans had taken cover behind anything they could find.  Tables, desks, chairs, everything had been dumped over.  The cyborgs mimicked the group, covering behind various objects on the other side of the room, and the groups exchanged fire at any opportunistic moment.  The Sniper Joe hid behind his shield, his visor flashing every time he locked onto a target.  His weapon shot with lethal precision, but the cyborgs were not to be taken down easily.  The guards concentrated their fire, apparently choosing one target and firing at it collectively until it was eliminated.  The humans fired randomly, brandishing projectile rifles that didn't seem to have much of an affect, unless they found an unarmored joint, in which case they tore through the organic tissue with ease.

The robot masters watched as the concentrated fire of the guards shot a newcomer to pieces before he could find cover, but one of them was in turn destroyed by a blue beam that went straight through its chest cavity.  The Sniper had given up going for one shot kills, and was now targeting the cyborgs' individual weapon systems.  One human abandoned his rifle, apparently having run out of ammo, and pulled a small metallic object from his belt, hurling the grenade at the opposing group.  The cyborgs had apparently seen this weapon before, as most of them tried to get out of the blast range, but some weren't fast enough.  The grenade worked much better than the rifles, and the explosion tore into unarmored backs and joints, eliminating or injuring four of the opposition.  The guards instantly got to work shooting at the cyborgs who had just left their cover, taking down another two in the process.  

The small band seemed to be handling things well, but more cyborgs were entering the room with a steady flow, and Shadow Man knew they wouldn't be able to hold off forever.  "Well boys, what do you think?  Should we crash the party?"

"Why bother?" Crash Man said. "They'll probably start shooting at us next."

"Well, if they do, we'll just have to take them out too, but I don't think so, besides, who knows if they might actually be of help."  Shadow Man turned to Freeze Man, "Why don't you start the ball.  Give 'em the slip."

"You got it," Freeze Man replied, generating a small ball of concentrated ice in his hands, which he then hurled at the cyborgs below him.  

The ball hit the ground and spread, coating the floor with a sheet of ice.  The cyborgs on the ground found them selves stuck to it, while those who had been jumping or evading found them selves landing on a much less stable environment.  As they attempted to regain their balance, another ball of concentrated ice flew unnoticed up to the ceiling.  Unnoticed, that is, until the resulting icicles rained down on the cyborgs, most of which had been hunched over, attempting to free them selves from the floor.  The icicles pierced into the unarmored backs of the cyborgs, killing more than half the group instantly.  With the numbers greatly reduced, the robot masters jumped freely into the fray, punching, kicking, shooting, throwing, slashing, freezing, and generally blowing the rest of the enemy to kingdom come.  When the dust settled, there were no more cyborgs left standing.

"Hmmm… these guys don't seem as durable as the ones that we fought before," Tomahawk Man said to Crash Man.

"They probably weren't expecting to deal with our caliber of an opponent.  Anyway, we've got something else to worry about at the moment," Crash Man gestured to the Guard Joes, which, along with the Sniper, were now forming a protective wall between the Robot Masters and the humans.

"Relax folks, we're not here to kill you all and take over the world for the moment," Shadow Man said.

The two humans looked at each other.  "Prove it," one said.

"If we _were_ here to take over the world, we would have killed you first, being the easier targets to dispose of."

"Uh, Shadow Man… That's not exactly smooth diplomacy," Metal Man whispered, earning a sharp blow to the head by Freeze Man.

The human's weren't convinced.  "Well, if you're not here to take over the world, then why _are_ you here?"

"Well, there's no point in sitting on the sidelines while someone else tries to do something that you've been attempting for years.  So, roughly put, Wily's sent us in to save the world so that he can take it later."

"Wait a minute, if those things weren't Wily's creations, then what the heck were they?"

"Oh, just a bunch of aliens invaders from outer space intent on conquering the world and enslaving the human race by turning them into mindless cyborg zombies."

The humans stared at Shadow Man, eyebrows at half-mast.

"Fine, believe what you want, but the way I see it you've got three choices.  You can try to find your way out of the building, you can stay here and be shot at again sometime soon, or you can come with us and help us regain control of this station so that we can make sure the world has some sort of global communications network.  What'll it be?"

Once again, the humans didn't quite know what to do.  One of them decided to try a different approach.  "What's keeping us from blowing you away right now?"

"Let me put it this way," Shadow Man said, gesturing to the group behind him.  "Do you really want to piss us off?"

***

Bass didn't have to run very far before he found his first victims.  A group of four cyborgs and what appeared to be two spider drones.  He vaguely recalled that these must have been what had initially attacked Wily's first fortress.  They had their backs turned toward him. _Wrong way to be facing… _he thought.  

The first cyborg went down as a large ball of plasma that resembled a crude skull slammed into its back.  A second didn't turn around quite fast enough as several cyan beams lanced into his back as well, sending him to the floor.  The other two turned around only long enough to register a big black object screaming towards them like a rocket.  Bass clotheslined the cyborgs as he dashed between them, knocking them on their backs.  The spider drones, a little slower to turn than their humanoid counterparts, didn't even realize the thing that had attacked them was now on the other side.  One spider took another level three plasma blast into its abdomen and promptly exploded, knocking the other spider off balance.  Bass took a few potshots at the drone, but had to divert his attention as the two cyborgs on the floor began to recover from his initial charge.

The cyborgs hadn't bothered to aim their shots well, and Bass easily dodged them, but it gave them enough time to get back on their feet and face their opponent properly.  _This is where it gets interesting, _Bass thought as the two cyborgs split apart.  The spider had turned around and was standing in the middle of the hallway, toting a chain weapon that must have come from its belly.  Bass realized that a weapon like that would fill the hallway with deadly rain, and there was little cover to be found.

_I'll just have to make my own.  _Bass shone briefly as his trimmings changed from a golden-yellow to an icy-blue.  Just as the chain weapon started to rapidly discharge red lasers into the hall, a large wall of ice appeared to obstruct the energy. Bass knew it wouldn't last long against the weapon, _but it'll last long enough.  He pushed the wall of ice that nearly filled the entire hallway, and it sped towards the cyborgs, smashing into them and carrying them down the hallway, gaining in momentum despite the resistance of its cargo.  There a satisfying crunch as the ice slammed into the opposing wall and Bass knew that the group wouldn't be bothering him anymore.  __Heh_, who knew Cold Man's weapon would actually come in handy?__

 He turned his attention to the two cyborgs left on the ground, the ones whom he had initially attacked.  They had been behind the ice-wall when he had sent it down the hallway.  The cyborg who had taken the charged shot in the back was obviously gone completely, but the other, which had only taken a few level one blasts, seemed operational, if just barely.

Bass walked over to the downed cyborg, grabbed its throat, and hoisted it into the air.  "You know, considering our roles in this whole thing, what I'm about to say will be rather ironic, but regardless," Bass brought the cyborg down to eye level and stared him right in the face, "Take me to your leader."

The cyborg hesitated for a moment, then seemed to recover a bit.  "Your challenge will be welcome.  He awaits you in the entry hall to the Communications center.  The Elite wishes to dispose of you himself.  We will no longer fire upon you, you're doom is already assured."

With a snarl, Bass tossed the cyborg into the air and blasted it like a clay pigeon.  Oh, the arrogance of it all.  If this guy thought that Bass was going to be a pushover, well, he'll find out soon enough how wrong he is.

***

They entered the room in force, coming in at all entrances to make sure nothing escaped.  Most of the nearby sections had gone dark, having lost connection to their power source.  It was of no consequence.  They had infrared vision, and they were using it now.  Initially, they couldn't see much.  Sparks were flying everywhere, casting shadows throughout the area.  The whole room looked like it had gone through a trash disposal cycle.  Then, one of them saw something, something standing in the very center of the room.  In an instant every cyborg had their optics trained on the enemy and began warming up their weapon systems.  Their orders had been clear.

A shout rang out in the darkness, it seemed to come out of nowhere, and it was only one word.

"Now!"

The large bulb on Bright Man's head went off, filling the room with enough light to have overloaded any optical instrument, bionic or mechanical.  For the cyborgs using infrared, it was much, much worse.

Having immediately lost their vision, one group of cyborgs didn't realize that a the large sickle of energy was heading toward them, until it tore into their ranks, vaporizing three of them and seriously damaging the rest.  Another group only heard the whoosh of a rocket before their members were flying in all directions.  Several more cyborgs fell to the floor, neatly cut in half, while others were blown off their feet by a severe gust of wind.  Plasma, Mini-Missiles, and bullets tore into the rest of the their ranks, complimented by the occasional flash of blue energy blasts.  Bright Man kept the room lit, lowering his bulbs intensity so as not to blind his allies.  With the cyborgs in immediate disarray, they were easily dealt with, despite their numbers.

Protoman rose from his cover, tossing a look over to Leelann.  "Small patrols huh?"

She only gave him a quick sideways glance.

"Well, I guess we got their attention," Pharaoh Man spoke up.  "Sheesh!  We must have taken out half their crew compliment!  And despite that, we still don't know which way to go.  They came from every direction at the same time."

"They still may have given us a clue.  The largest group came from that entrance over there" Bright Man put in.

"You sure?" Protoman asked.

"Yup, had at least five more than the other squads.  Probably as good an indication as any."

Protoman thought it over.  "Yeah, you're probably right.  At least I don't have any other ideas, so, that way it is.  Let's get moving, we've got a ship to blow."


	15. We Need to Talk

Chapter 15

General Calvin Fox of the Global Defense Force didn't quite know what to think.  Here he was, sitting in the general communications room of the complex along with several other key personnel, being guarded by several indescribable, yet vaguely humanoid, things.  So far the guards had refused to negotiate.  In fact, they had refused to talk altogether.  Some of the staff had thought about using the equipment in the room to send a distress signal, but the enemy had slagged it after bringing them into the room.  Fox could only assume that it was another that cursed Dr. Wily's plots, but for the moment there was nothing he could do but sit and wait.

It had all happened rather quickly.  He had been in his quarters, preparing for a meeting with some officials from the Global Space Exploration Force who had been busy trying to figure out why communications with all satellites and stations in orbit had been suddenly lost.  It seemed that they had simply vanished off screens nearly a week and a half ago, and several attempts to contact them had proved futile. In fact, ground radar hadn't picked up so much as a piece of space scrap since it had happened.  The GSEF had launched a massive telescope search to find the missing satellites.  They found nothing but stars.

Television stations and the internet had also stopped working when the satellites had gone down, and for the moment, the only way to send news was through local radio stations and the telephone lines.  

The science division had said that they'd discovered something, which was to be the topic of their meeting, but it had never happened.  Just as Fox had packed up all this files and data, his door was blown open and he had been taken into custody.  He didn't even hear the alarm until twenty minutes later and it had been quickly silenced. 

Roughly two hours and several communication attempts with the guards later, the door was finally opened and an eight-foot beast walked in.  Well, it wasn't really a beast, but though it resembled the guards, it was much larger, and its armored plating looked like solid rock of a type that the general had never seen before.  Whatever it was, it was obviously in charge, and its face radiated a sense of intelligence that the guards lacked.  It glanced over the occupants in the room, its eyes settling over the General, where they stopped.  General Fox didn't know why it had chosen him, he wasn't even the highest-ranking General there, but for some reason, it was to him that the beast directed his gaze.  After a few silent minutes, Fox decided to speak up.

"So, what does Wily want this time?"

The beast seemed slightly taken aback.  "Wily?  Ahh, you refer to the bane of this world.  Let me assure you that I have nothing to do with this so-called 'Dr. Wily'.  In fact, my master has already dealt with that threat, his operations have been halted for the moment, and most likely permanently."

The officers looked around, puzzled.  One of them, an Admiral whose name Fox did not immediately recall, put the general confusion into words.  "Well, if it's not Wily, then who the blazes are you?"

"My name would be meaningless to you, but I will allow you to know that we are here to enslave your species and take your planet's resources for our own.  My master has chosen you to be the first 'humans' subjected to the process."

"Why us?" Fox asked, "We are hardly the most important or even influential people on the planet."

"We realize that this world is ruled by a civillian autocracy, but we have learned through our conquests that we can be much more efficient by eliminating military leaders first.  Not only is a species morale lowered when they realize that key military leaders are suddenly fighting for the other side, we are also able to aid in disorganizing your defensive abilities in doing so.  Eliminating the civilian government would only accomplish one such objective."

"Where is this master you speak of, let us talk to him, we may be able to reach an agreement."

"Hah, your petty attempts to dissuade us will be in vain.  Your race was doomed the moment we discovered of your planet's existence, but I assure you, the process is virtually painless, so long as you subject yourselves willingly."

"Well, I'm afraid that your 'attempts' to _persuade us will be equally in vain.  We 'humans' don't really like backing down without a struggle."_

"You will have little choice in the matter.  I will give you roughly three standard Earth 'hours' to decide.  You can either encourage your people to give up, or you can be tortured before being subjected.  Until then, I have my own objectives to accomplish."  With that, the thing left the room, which remained silent for several minutes afterward.  Admiral Roger Duncan was the first to break the silence.

"Well, I for one won't agree to anything until I see some proof that he is what he claims to be."

"I donno, Roger, do you really want to risk going through what he said?"

"Regardless, I'm not going to go and broadcast a statement of surrender to the world's population."

The comments started flying.  Several, like Admiral Duncan, wanted proof. Some refused to give up, while other's seemed to have already given in to the thing's demands.  _They always were the pessimists, Fox thought.  A small groups of officers still didn't know quite what to think.  After forty-five minutes of debating, Fox had had enough.  He stood up and faced the group, shouting for quiet.  When he was convinced that he had everyone's attention, he began to speak._

"Look, I'm not exactly sure what kind of credibility we can give to this thing, but if what he says is true, then we can't afford to give up so soon.  If you go and tell the public that they should give in, you would only be adding to the destruction of our entire race, not to mention that you'd probably be labeled a traitor, and what if we won this?  Everyone who gave in would probably be court-martialed and sentenced to life.  We were brought to these positions because the people saw us as leaders, and I'm not about to prove them wrong the moment I'm given the chance to show a bit of leadership.  Besides, I doubt they'd listen to me anyway.  Every great leader has the chance to make it into the history books.  What if this is our chance?"

"What if there's no future to record it!"

"Then it wouldn't matter either way would it?"

The debate continued after this, but several officers began to rally behind Fox, and the group quickly became more decisive.  Eventually, two groups were formed: Those who decided they would give up, and those who decided, for any reason, they would not.  When the two hours had passed, heavy footsteps were heard outside the door as the thing returned to the room.  It silently rounded up those who had agreed to encourage the people to surrender, and left, promising the come back for the others.

                An hour later, it still hadn't returned, and the officers in the room were getting uneasy as their imaginations began to act up.  Just as a few of them began to have second thoughts, the sound of heavy footsteps was once again heard outside the door, but they stopped just as they reached it, and a new sound could be heard, though it was muffled.  It sounded like… voices.  None of the men in the room dared go to the door to hear them better, because there were still several guards, but the guards seemed to know that something was wrong.  They had begun to ready their weapons and aim it towards the door.  Fox figured that something big was about to happen, and decided that he did not want to be in the middle of it.  He slid off his seat and took cover under the table.  The other men quickly came to the same realization, and followed his lead, some even used their chairs for cover.  Just seconds later, the door was smashed in.  Another eight-foot figure appeared, but unlike the last this one was clearly recognizable.  

Guts Man stood in the doorway, his large figure filling it nearly entirely.  He strode into the room and made for the guards on the other side.  The guards, in turn, opened fire on the massive figure, but the large robot shrugged off the assault.  When he got close enough to one of the cyborgs, he grabbed its arm and roughly tore the limb from the shoulder, tossing it away and hurling the body into two other guards.  As the cyborgs concentrated on Gut Man, other figures began to enter the room and fire upon the guards, who went down quickly from the overwhelming onslaught.  When the shooting stopped, the men got the courage to get out from under the table.

When General Fox saw what had entered the room, his first inclination was to duck back under the table.  There stood seven robot masters, and several Joes behind them.  The only reason Fox _didn't duck back under the table was because he also saw a few humans in the group, and he became curious.  Before he could ask them what was going on, one more figure stepped into the room, and all his fears were laid to rest._

The whole group cried out in unison, some in question, others in amazement, but they all cried out the same words.  "Mega Man?!"

***

"So… uh… Crash Man, is it?  If I may ask, what exactly are we dealing with here?"

The humans and their Joes walked among the group of robot masters as they continued their trek down the hallways of the complex.  So far the only exchange between the two groups had been directions given by the humans of the best way to get to the main stations.  They had also stopped by the armory for some needed munitions for their projectile weapons, as well as a few energy tanks.  As they once again continued down the halls, one of the humans could no longer retain his curiosity, and he wanted some questions answered.

"What Shadow Man had told you before was no lie, though it may have sounded differently.  We're not exactly sure what it is ourselves, but we do know that they're not here to help.  Apparently they go from place to place enslaving the citizens and animals of various worlds for use in their own schemes.  Dr. Wily and Dr. Light have temporarily joined forces to deal with this threat, and they are likewise being aided by the Russian scientist, Dr. Cossack.  They're learning as much as they can for the moment, but right now we have orders to restore this facility to full operational status."

"Hmmm… I see… I guess that kinda explains why we can't reach our orbital satellites."

"The satellites have apparently been disabled, from what I understand, the enemy has been attempting to disrupt global communications."

"They're trying to disorganize us, I understand now.  They must…"

He was interrupted mid-sentence by Crash Man, who made a swift hand gesture that obviously meant 'be quiet'.  All the nearby robot masters suddenly stopped walking and fell silent for a few moments, until Crash Man tapped his helmet twice and turned back towards the other group.  "It was Shadow Man," he said.  "He says they've found a rather large group of guards outside the doors of the Communications Center.  He's coming back so that we can formulate a plan to get through them.

Soon Shadow Man and Tomahawk Man appeared around the corner, while Slash Man dropped from the ceiling.  The two groups huddled together, and Shadow Man began to explain the situation.

"Well, they outnumber us at roughly 2.5 to one, so this isn't going to be easy.  They knew I was coming, and nearly fried me as I tried to scout the area.  They must have sensors filling the hallways around this area.  They obviously don't want anyone getting in there.

"We could try to surprise them with a different approach," Crash Man said.  He turned to one of the humans.  "What exactly are these walls made of?"

Well, this isn't exactly a combat center.  They're not reinforced of anything.  A standard gernade could easily put a good sized hole in the wall…" He trailed off as he realized what Crash Man was suggesting.  "You think it'll work?"

"They might have some excellent offensive strategies, but their defensive tactics need work.  We can surround them on all sides, create confusion if possible, get them to divide their fire, and we shouldn't have many problems.  Alright, Tomahawk Man, take the humans and their Joes.  I'll take Crash Man and Metal Man.  Freeze Man, Slash Man, a Crystal Man will take the other side.  Tomahawk Man, wait for my signal, then start a diversion from the front.  The rest of us will come in from opposing sides.  This has to be quick, we need to get inside that room."

***

Bass merely walked past the cyborgs guarding the room.  Just as all the other he had met since his initial encounter, they did not fire on him, but let him enter willingly.  When he reached the door, he kicked it in without hesitating, and strode into the room.  There was not one guard in the room.  In fact, there didn't appear to be anything in the room.  It was dark, the power obviously having been cut, and it literally appeared like a tornado had hit the room.  Equipment and paper was strewn everywhere, most of the equipment having been destroyed beyond repair.  There was no movement, in fact, everything seemed absolutely still.  Still and silent… except for the soft sound of rustling paper.  _Rustling paper?  Huh?_

Bass looked around him, and saw that the paper thrown about the room had started to wave, as a breeze had suddenly entered the room.  The noise began to grow louder, and soon papers were flying everywhere as the wind picked up.  Bass couldn't understand it, there didn't appear to be any windows, except for the skylight, and it seemed intact.

"I can assure you, this is no natural phenomena."

The voice came from behind.  Bass quickly wheeled around and saw a most peculiar sight.  It was a large figure floating in the air, about six and a half feet tall, but slender.  It had a large hump on its back which seemed to house a pair of high powered turbines that apparently gave the figure its flight capabilities.  Bass raised an eyebrow.

"You're the one leading this force?"

The figure gave Bass what could only be interpreted as a smug expression.  "In a sense of the word.  Yes, I command the troops, but I also fight alongside them.  You abandon your troops the moment the mission begins.  Not very smart."

"Bah…  they're robot masters and nothing more.  I don't need them to take you down."

"Nonetheless, they fight well.  They're on their way even now, but as entertaining as it was to see them struggle to get here, they won't get inside."

"Like I said, I don't need them.  Your arrogance in challenging me will be your last mistake.  You hardly look like you would put up a good fight."

"Appearances can be deceiving."

"Then I guess that's your last hope, isn't it?"

"Ha, you are nothing compared to me.  A mere sport."  At this, the elite raised its arms, and two turbine fans appeared, which began to spin, increasing the air current to the point that Bass had to lean into it to prevent from being blown over.  "It has been a long time since a foe has given me a proper challenge.  I am interested to see what your world has to offer."

"I could snap your limbs in two without pause."

"That may be true, but to lay a hand on me would be a feat in and of itself.  You won't get close enough to try."

"Watch me."  Without another word, Bass dashed towards his foe and lunged at him, but just as his fingers reached for the figure, they closed around empty air.  The elite appeared behind him, and laughed mockingly.

"A noble attempt, but you'll have to move faster."

Bass tried again, but this time the elite raised its hands and a force of wind hit Bass like a brick wall, sending him flying across the room.  Bass hit the opposing wall and slunk to the floor, dazed, but undamaged.  He rose slowly to his feet.  _If I can't touch him, my buster can!  Bass first charged shot was easily dodged, as was the second, and the third.  Finally Bass gave up charging and sent several smaller beams of plasma in the elite's direction, intent on boxing him in, but the cyborg managed to dodge them all.  There was no doubt about it, this guy was __fast._

"I must say, you're rather good at running away.  Had some practice have you?"

The elite gave Bass another smirk.  "Do not attempt to goad me into making a mistake, I'm not so inexperienced to be muddled by words.  I am merely giving you a chance to prove yourself.  Thus far, the results have been disappointing."

"Really?  Maybe I'm giving you too much breathing room."  Without another word, Bass brought up his buster, but this time no large comet or cyan beam came from the weapon.  Instead, several smaller purple plasma bolts were discharged in rapid succession.  With no room left on the ground to maneuver, the cyborg took to the air, and the wave of plasma passed safely underneath him.  Bass pressed the attack, but the cyborg now had that much more room to dodge, and it darted between the onslaught like a hummingbird on overdrive.  Eventually the weapon began to overheat, and the firing stopped.  Bass was beginning to get very frustrated.

"Will you hold still and let me shoot you!"

"I'm afraid that is entirely out of the question, but I believe that I have had my fun.  You were amusing, and few have been able to match your determination, but I must say that I have fought better."

Rage overcame Bass as he once again lunged at the cyborg, and once again, he was caught in a powerful burst of wind that knocked him into the opposite wall.  This time, however, the elite continued to blast Bass with his power, holding the black robot fast.  Bass couldn't even move.

"Amusing as you are, all toys have a tendency to break, and your usefulness has worn out.  Like so many others, you will fall at the hands of my Sonic Wind!"

Immediately upon announcing his intentions, Bass began to hear a strange hum.  It was quiet at first, but steadily grew louder, and Bass was feeling the effects well enough.  He began to shiver as every molecule of his body started vibrating with sonic intensity.  It felt like his body was about to tear itself apart, and his energy began to fall at an alarming rate.  When eighty percent of his energy was gone, the vibrations and the wind both ceased, and Bass dropped to the floor.  It was quite a chore to get himself back on his feet, and his limbs protested violently.  The elite seemed vaguely impressed.

"You are quite durable.  A sustained burst of that strength would have seriously damaged even one of my brethren, and certainly destroyed anything else, and yet you are still able to remain on your feet."

Bass tried to talk, but he only managed to get out a few labored words. "I'm… just full… of surprises."

The elite seemed to think something over.  He gazed over the black and gold form in front of him, "Maybe you can be of use to me after all."

***

                "Alright, everyone is in position.  I guess it's time to stir things up a bit.  Tomahawk Man, that's your cue."

                "Consider it done."  Tomahawk Man turned to the humans.  "We might have to lose a few Joes with this, but we have to get their attention focused on us entirely.  So far the idea is to just charge out there and fire at anything that fires back.  I would suggest that you two stay behind the corner and guide your Joes from there."

                The humans nodded, gave their directives, and the troop of Joes, led by Tomahawk Man, darted around the corner and began to fire at anything in the hallway.  The cyborgs were ready, and immediately returned fire, but never left the vicinity of the doorway.

                _Good, Tomahawk Man thought.  _That's just what we want them to do.__

Several Guard Joes had already fallen, and even the robot master had taken a few hits, but it was working.  The entire force of cyborgs was diverting its attention to the threat.  The humans added to the confusion by occasionally tossing a grenade into the enemy formations.  After about a minute or two of fierce fighting, the wall to the right of the cyborgs suddenly exploded outward, sending two of their number that had been too close flying in the opposite direction, and showering the rest with plaster and drywall.  Metal Blades, Shadow Blades, and Crash Bombs began spewing out of the hole in the wall, ripping into and blowing apart every cyborg that got caught in the onslaught.  The three robot masters attacked with such a ferocity that the entire cyborg force turned on this new threat in order to deal with it properly.  Tomahawk Man saw the opportunity, as did the humans, and their team pressed the attack.  Caught in the crossfire, the cyborgs couldn't quite figure out which direction held the bigger threat, and they began to fire wildly.  As the robot masters began dropping cyborgs one at a time, the remainder of the group huddled together in front of the doorway, determined not to let anything get past them.  They began to reorganize their efforts, and concentrate their fire in one direction, attempting to deal with the enemy one by one.

Their efforts were cut short by a large block of ice.  Actually, it was more like a large block of the ceiling encased in ice.  Suddenly weighed down by several tons of ice, and weakened by a few well placed slashes, the ceiling had come down on top of the huddled cyborgs with a loud crash.  Freeze Man, Slash Man, and Crystal Man had ridden the ice block to the floor.

"Well," Crystal Man was saying to Freeze Man, "That certainly got the job done, now didn't it?"

The other teams gathered into the hallway, which was now covered in ice shards.  One of the humans turned to Freeze Man.  "You know, I was expecting you to come blasting out of the other wall, like those guy's did," he said, motioning to Shadow Man.

"If you were expecting it, they might have too.  Gotta keep the enemy on their toes y'know."

"I guess…"

"Well," Tomahawk Man said, "We fought so hard to get here, should we at least figure out what's behind door number one?"

Before any of them could move, one of the humans gave a stifled scream, and slumped to the floor.  The robot masters whirled around, and as they did so, one of the three remaining guard joes exploded.  It didn't take long to spot the origin of the disturbance, it was quite easy to see.  

A hulking beast stood in the middle of the hallway, nearly blocking the whole thing with its mass.  It was generally humanoid, with a small angular head and a massive body.  Roughly ten feet tall, it was covered with various weapon systems, most notable were its huge, shoulder-mounted cannon, and a rotating rocket launcher attached to its back.  Two small swivel cannons were mounted on either side of its waist.  Its hands were huge, and looked like they could crush any of the robot masters if they got too close.  A long, dark visor was apparently its optical system, on which a single green eye bounced back and forth.  This was obviously something entirely mechanical.  It was the first time the enemy had employed anything without a trace of living tissue.  It faced the group, which could only stare for a few moments in silent awe at the power they beheld.  Metal Man finally broke the silence.

"Anyone have any suggestions?"

The shoulder cannon began to glow.

"Yeah," the remaining human said, "GET OUTTA THE WAY!"

The entire group leapt into the hole in the wall that Crash Man had created earlier, with the exception of the Sniper Joe, which decided to trust his shield.  Through the hole, the Robot Masters could see the hallway behind them fill with a vast beam of white light.  When it subsided, the Sniper Joe was on its back.  The beam had pierced the visor imbedded into the sniper's shield, and in turn, had pierced the Joe as well.  The joe's feet, which had not been protected by its shield, were gone.

"We can't fight that thing in the hallways, there's not enough room to maneuver."

"What do you suggest, Shadow Man?"

"We'll have to make a mad dash for the control room.  We'll have more room to fight there."

"What!"  Crystal Man exclaimed, "We'll destroy the very equipment we came to preserve!"

"Not really," Shadow Man reasoned.  "Chances are it's been destroyed already.  There are other ways to get the system working again anyway.  There's no more time to argue, it's coming down the hall.  Let's go!"

As one, the group ran back into the hallway and through the (now vaporized) doorway into the communication's center.  The room was dark, and apparently empty, as nothing within fired upon the incoming group.  Damaged and destroyed equipment (as well as thousands of sheets of paper) were strewn about the area.  Shadow Man turned to Crystal Man.

"See, told ya."

"Yeah, yeah…"

The group split up, deciding to take to the shadows hoping to surprise the hulk as it entered.

Heavy footsteps announced the coming of the monster.  It walked with a slow plodding gait.  It didn't appear very fast.  _Then again, it probably doesn't need to be very fast, Shadow Man thought to himself._

The moment the beast entered the center Crash Man let loose with a Crash Bomb.  The monster brought up one of its massive hands, and the Crash Bomb hit it and exploded.  The result was not pleasant.

_It didn't even look like it did any damage!  Freeze Man thought.  _

The monster was returning fire with its waist cannons, rapidly firing off several green lasers.  Crash Man was forced to duck back behind the console he was using for cover.

"The armor on its hands is thick.  We'll have to get around them if we want to do any damage," Crash Man called to the others.

"Freeze Man, can you slow him down?" Shadow Man called in turn.

A ball of concentrated ice few at the robot's feet, coating the floor around it with ice, but the robot was able to walk on the ice without a problem.

"It's no good," Freeze Man yelled, "He's either too heavy, or he's got excellent traction."

The robot masters continued to trade shots with the beast, but nothing seemed to work.  Crystals and Blades merely bounced off the armor, it could break through ice too quickly for it to be effective, and it was quite good at intercepting Crash Bombs with its hands.  The robot masters were not quite so immune.

The remaining guard joes had been the first to go down.  The human wasn't showing his face.  The robot masters were adept at dodging the beast's guns, but they couldn't hold out forever.  They needed some breathing room, and an idea… fast!

Surprisingly enough, an idea came to Shadow Man quite quickly.

"Metal Man, Crash Man, get his attention!  I've got a plan," Shadow Man called out.  The two robot masters immediately began throwing everything they could at the beast, while the others gathered in the far corner of the room, hidden by several cubicles.  Shadow Man addressed the group.

"Look, Freeze Man can't slow him down, the ice is too weak, but maybe," he turned to Slash Man, "…your secondary can."

"Think it'll work?"

"It's all we've got left, but we can't risk wasting our chance with only one or two canisters.  Give everyone at least two, we'll have to throw them all at once, half of us at his feet, and half at his weapons.  We've got to slow him down."

"Right."  Slash Man generated several canisters and handed them to the others.  When they all had their hands full, Shadow Man signaled.

"All right… NOW!"

As one, the group of robot masters rose and threw the canisters at the beast, which split open mid-flight.  Gobs of red gunk exploded out of the canisters, covering the monster, and the area around it, sticking it to the floor and clogging its weapon systems.  The robot found that it suddenly could not move or fire.  It lost its balance and toppled to the floor, shaking the whole room as it fell.

The robot masters began to approach the beast cautiously, but the remaining human didn't waist a breath.  In a flash he had darted out of his hiding place, pulled out two grenades, pulled the pins, and shoved them into the back mounted rocket launcher tubes.  Slash Man tried to warn him about getting too close to the monster, but he was either too wrapped up in what he was doing, or he didn't seem to care.  It wasn't until he tried to get away that he realized his mistake.  He fell to the ground, having stepped in the goo himself, and he only had enough time to close his eyes in anticipation.

The robot masters quickly dove for the nearest cover.

The resulting explosion rocked the very foundation of the building, sending anything and everything that had been anywhere near the blast in all directions.  Concrete, metal, plastic and various other things rained down upon the robot masters crouching behind their cover.

As the dust settled, the robot masters cautiously peeked around their cover, only to discover that the sentry was back on its feet, and no longer covered in red gunk.

But its rocket launcher was missing.

As was a sizable chunk of its back.

Tomahawk Man was the first to speak.  "Well, that probably wasn't the smartest move that guy ever made, but he did give us something to work with, so let's bring this beast down!"

The robot masters attacked furiously, concentrating on the damaged section of its back.  The sentry, however, had gotten noticeably faster, and was not letting anything get through.  In a frenzy, Slash Man leapt on the beast, with the intent to cut him apart from the inside out.  The sentry merely grabbed him out of the air, and began to squeeze.  Slash Man gave a yelp as he reacted to the sudden pressure on his body, and he tried to fight, but the sentry's grip couldn't be broken.

Metal Man intervened, jumping onto the sentry's back, he jammed a Metal Blade into the damaged portion.  The robot, sensing the greater danger to its health, threw Slash Man into the nearest wall, and instead grabbed Metal Man. Slash Man hit the wall and slumped to the ground, his body screaming in protest at the punishment it had just taken, but he got back up.

The sentry didn't even bother to try and crush Metal Man, but instead brought him in front of the large shoulder mounted cannon, as he turned to fire his waist guns on Shadow Man, who had attempted to come to Metal Man's aid.

The cannon began to glow, and Metal Man was staring straight down the barrel.  He still had one hand free, and as a last ditch attempt, he threw a Metal Blade into the optical system of the sentry.  The blade smashed into the visor, splintering it to pieces and cutting directly into the oscillating eye.  The sentry was blinded, but that didn't stop the cannon.

The beam was much smaller, and not as intense, but it got the job done.  The sentry tossed aside the remains of what used to be the robot master Metal Man.  Half his upper torso, and everything above, had been completely vaporized.

The sentry began to fire blindly in all directions.  It was aiming its fire by sound only now.  Small green lasers lit up the area, accompanied every once in a while by a large white beam of energy, but since the weapons were no longer properly aimed, the remaining robot masters had no trouble dodging them.  Still, the robot masters couldn't get very close, and it was getting frustrating.

"Look, I can't aim these things well enough to get into that hole in his back," Crash Man said, referring to his Crash Bombs.  "He keeps turning around too quickly, and his armor's just too thick.  We need to try something else.  Slash Man, get on that wall, get ready to jump at him, but be prepared to catch something on the way there.  Freeze Man," he tossed Freeze Man a Crash Bomb, "Throw that at him when he jumps."

Slash Man understood.  Leaping up onto a wall, he began to give off a reddish glow.  After a moment, he launched himself towards the monster once again, but something else met him in mid-air.  It was a Crash Bomb, encased in ice.  Slash Man deftly caught the frozen bomb, using his claws to grip the ice.  He latched onto the monster's back, used his Slash Claws to cut even deeper into the robot's systems, and jammed the bomb as far into the sentry as he possibly could before jumping away to safety.  Soon after, another explosion rocked the building, and this time when the dust cleared, there was nothing left.

**A/N:  This chapter didn't quite come out the way I'd wanted it to.  I've also begun to notice that because I split my characters up so much, jumping around is going to get confusing.  I also feel that there's been too much action, and not enough plot… I'll try and fix that.  Truth be told, I'm making this up as I go, so any suggestions might be useful :).   Oh, and I know that Sonic Wind comes from Sonic Adventure 2… but it sounded like such a cool weapon, and I didn't know what else to use :).**

**Shadowwolf75:  Nice to have you back.  I thought my extended absence had lost ya.**

**Everyone, leave a review, if you please.**


	16. Author's Note

Hello Everyone.

While I am glad that my store has recieved a fairly strong following, I must regret to inform you that it is on a temporary hiatus for some time. However, I am still writing it, and it will be finished. Weither most of you will still be interested after the pre-set hiatus time (probably about two years) is a far cry, but rest assured that when my time is up, I will have already finished the story, and updates will come in rapid succession. I thank you for your patience and am glad I have been able to write an interesting story as to catch you attention. Thank you.

-Sincerely,

HeatWave


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